After the Texans beat the Jaguars on Sunday, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins said that the win “wasn’t just the DeAndre Hopkins show.”
That might be true, but it’s similar to saying that Curb Your Enthusiasm wasn’t just the Larry David show. There are other people involved and they contribute to the experience, but no one’s coming just to see Jeff Garlin or Brian Hoyer. Hopkins destroyed the Jaguars on Sunday to the tune of 10 catches, 148 yards and two touchdowns to continue an eye-opening run through the first six weeks of the season.
Hopkins has 52 catches, a league-high 726 yards and five touchdowns this season and has at least nine catches and 148 yards in the last three contests. While some of that is due to being targeted more often than any other receiver in the league, Hopkins has been doing it with Hoyer and Ryan Mallett delivering the ball to an unimpressive non-Hopkins receiving corps and a running game averaging less than 100 yards per outing.
Coach Bill O’Brien wasn’t reticent about giving Hopkins his due.
“He’s a force in this league,” O’Brien said, via the Houston Chronicle. “Anytime you have a guy like that on the perimeter, who can make plays like that, and you have the confidence that no matter what kind of coverage there is, you can throw it up there to him and he’s going to make a play. He’s a great competitor.”
With the Colts at 3-3, the Texans aren’t out of the running in the AFC South despite their rocky first six games. Hopkins said Sunday that he doesn’t “worry about individual stats” and he’s not likely to need to worry about them moving forward because the Texans need to feed him to keep their hopes alive this season.