How ’bout a nice glass of shut the hell up?
Aug 3, 2008 Andre Johnson, Anger, Righteous Indignation, Rumors, Weak-ass arguments, What the fuck?
OK…time to bust out the old Righteous Indignation Machine.
First, it was the interviewer in this chat with Tim suggesting that ‘Dre was frustrating to fantasy owners (at least in part) because he was so injury-prone. (Side note: Tim continues to impress me in these, mainly because he always seems so much more knowledgeable than the host and winds up carrying the interview.) Then it was shithead supreme Mike Florio who wrote:
The Texans need a healthy Johnson (heh-heh, heh) in 2008. Regardless of whether the latest injury is serious, it’s hard not to wonder whether Johnson has become more than a little fragile as his career enters what should be its prime.
That’s dumb, but it’s not even the dumbest thing on the page, as that honor goes to the mouth-breathing dumbfuck who left the first comment to Florio’s post:
Surprise, surprise! Andre Johnson has an injury! Has this guy made it through an entire an NFL season in his entire career?
Righteous Indignation Machine…engage.
Plain and simple, if you think Andre Johnson is “fragile” or “injury prone” or “always hurt,” you are a goddamned retard. Prior to last season, ‘Dre had ONE YEAR WHERE HE MISSED EVEN A SINGLE GAME. That was 2005, when a calf injury forced him out of a game early and caused him to miss the next three. Other than that, Johnson had played every single game…and played really fucking well.
Yes, he was hurt last year. (And, yes, I am still kind of bitter at Kubiak about it, as there was absolutely no reason for Johnson to even be in the game at that point.) And, yes, there’s a chance that this groin tweak is somehow related to the rehabilitation of the knee injury. But one serious injury in five years of football does not make someone fragile.
Compare:
Andre Johnson
| Year | Games |
| 2003 | 16 |
| 2004 | 16 |
| 2005 | 13 |
| 2006 | 16 |
| 2007 | 9 |
Steve Smith
| Year | Games |
| 2001 | 15 |
| 2002 | 15 |
| 2003 | 16 |
| 2004 | 1 |
| 2005 | 16 |
| 2006 | 14 |
| 2007 | 15 |
Plaxico Burress
| Year | Games |
| 2000 | 12 |
| 2001 | 16 |
| 2002 | 16 |
| 2003 | 16 |
| 2004 | 11 |
| 2005 | 16 |
| 2006 | 15 |
| 2007 | 16 |
Larry Fitzgerald
| Year | Games |
| 2004 | 16 |
| 2005 | 16 |
| 2006 | 13 |
| 2007 | 15 |
Terrell Owens
| Year | Games |
| 1996 | 16 |
| 1997 | 16 |
| 1998 | 16 |
| 1999 | 14 |
| 2000 | 14 |
| 2001 | 16 |
| 2002 | 14 |
| 2003 | 15 |
| 2004 | 14 |
| 2005 | 7 |
| 2006 | 16 |
| 2007 | 15 |
Need I continue? For a little clarification, for the list above, other than Steve Smith (who I included because people constantly talk about how tough he is), I tried to stick with receivers who were similar in size and or playing style to Andre Johnson. I’m pretty sure I could plug most any #1 WR into this post, though, and have similar results.
So what the fuck gives? The guy is every bit as durable as the WRs who get lauded for their toughness and/or for being “gamers.” He’s had one small injury and one big injury in five years, despite being one of the most targeted WRs in the game and despite being one of the more active WRs when it comes to downfield blocking. He’s been hung out to dry by his QBs (especially the since-departed pillow biter) more often than just about anyone, yet he takes hits, rarely runs out of bounds, is not afraid to go over the middle, and almost never gets hurt.
One injury does not make someone injury prone. People like Florio who say otherwise deserve to be faceraped.
Righteous Indignation Machine…disengage.
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August 3rd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Thank you! After reading that and watching him swirl on down, I feel better!
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August 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Nice RIM job Matt! But obviously Florio doesnt do any research when he writes his articles.
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August 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Indeed, sir. National myth - busted.
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August 3rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
@Jordan: Awesome.
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August 3rd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Sounds like all those years when people used to say that Warrick Dunn was injury prone… when he’s had one “injury” his entire career.
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August 3rd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
The Florio report was silly. I don’t blame him so much because understandably the Texans aren’t terribly forthcoming on injuries, and the Houston Chronicle rarely does any in depth reporting of a player injury unless it involves Yao Ming.
After Manning’s knee surgery, the Indy Star had days and days of medical information about it. After Andre Johnson hurt his knee, the Chronicle didn’t even say which knee it was.
I talked about the knee thing here: http://fantasy.fanhouse.com/2008/05/20/andre-johnson-gets-knee-scoped-texans-fans-panicking-in-the-str/#cont
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August 4th, 2008 at 8:35 am
@Steph: But Florio’s article doesn’t depend on whether the team is forthcoming with injuries. He throws out simply that this injury might make you think Andre is becoming “fragile.” What is that based on? Because he had one real injury in his whole career and –gasp!– had a muscle tighten up on him in camp? If that is the criteria for fragile, I think we can label 90% of the league.
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August 4th, 2008 at 9:44 am
@Matt: And to add to that, Florio (for good or bad) has a “national” voice to fans of the NFL and to fans “perceptions” of the Texans. Without looking at AJ’s body of work, he makes an outlandish statement about him! To me, that’s irresponsible journalism to a greater degree, then the local “hacks” can create for mostly Houston fans.
I guess it’s for “hits” to his site…
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August 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am
@Eric: He’s on the not-so-short list of people I’d like to give hits to the face.
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August 4th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
All good and well, and point taken, but I’m sure that deep down inside, we’re all praying to Ganesh that AJ isn’t injured this season.
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Consider just how unfortunate the Texans have been over the last two years with injuries, this is something that I’m going to be worried about for the entire season.
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August 4th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
@WillFist4Food: Oh, definitely, but I think (as you said) that our fears have a lot more to do with our recent history of injuries than with some propensity to get injured on AJ’s part.
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August 5th, 2008 at 8:00 am
@Matt: Fair enough. I concur: Florio is a fuckface.