In today's Chronicle, Title story in "Texans Game Day" section, "Texans build on solid ground". I'll just put in the good parts, the rest is about Andre Johnson. "The Texans enter with twice the wins, double the confidence and two big reasons to believe a win is on the way today. Andre Johnson and Domanick Davis. ..................... You've got to start with the rookie running back, Davis, and the rookie receiver, Johnson, who have been earning high praise all season long and earned more last week from the Falcons. "Those are their go-to guys", Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking said. "Its almost like the quarterback is dropping back and he's looking deep for Johnson. If that is taken away, he's checking down to Domanick". .............. Rare to find a rookie receiver, even a no. 3 pick, to make the immediate impact that Johnson has. Rarer still is it that a fourth-round running back who missed a chunck of training camp like Davis, breaks into the starting lineup and through 10 games has 1,002 combined rushing and receiving yards. Fourth round rookie backs are supposed to play special teams. They're supposed to be mere situational runners. Picking up pass-blocking schemes in the NFL offenses is supposed to be next to impossible for some. Thats why you have to give large doses of credit to the often-overlooked position coaches for this twosome -- Texans receivers coach Kippy Brown and running backs coach Chick Harris. Stepping into NFL surroundings can be daunting to say the least. Brown and Harris realized the important roles Davis and Johnson could play for this team from the moment they arrived in training camp and threw it all at their guys, from handling the lifestyle to handling the playbook. "When you come into this league, there are so many things going on, on the job in front of them" Harris said. "We've tried to get our guys to focus. That's what Domanick has. He has been successful focusing on that one play that was just called. Just that one play. That's rare for a lot of rookies." Once again today we figure to see proof that Harris and Brown have seemed to know exactly what buttons to push with their rising young stars. When to scream. When to stroke and when to step aside and let the players natural gifts take over.
Does anyone else recognize that quality about, "taking it one play at a time," and, "focusing on the task at hand,"? To me, it sounds like a constant Nick Saban mantra...over and over we hear it, and now we see that it pays off at the next level... Take it one play at a time, and make sure you can leave a bad play behind to focus on the next play to be more successful...
