<
>

Chip Kelly calls DeAndre Hopkins a 'star in the making'

HOUSTON -- There is no doubt the Houston Texans have elite weapons offensively, and Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly knows it.

“Obviously you’ve got a Hall of Fame receiver in (Andre) Johnson," Kelly said Wednesday morning on a conference call with Houston reporters. "DeAndre Hopkins in his second year is somebody that I think is really a star in the making, a guy that you have to be aware of every formation of what they do."

Kelly and Texans coach Bill O'Brien are very familiar with each other, both being New Englanders. They've known each other for years and talked a lot of football during that time.

"I think what Billy does offensively is never really revolved around one guy," Kelly said. "Obviously you’ve got somebody like Arian Foster to hand the ball to, and Alfred Blue is really contributed. We liked Alfred coming out of college also."

Kelly went on to praise every position on the field, which is fairly typical of a head coach talking about his next opponent. He lost me a little bit when he talked about what a big factor the Texans' tight ends have been, as the Texans have only targeted tight ends a league-low 25 times this season.

There are some obvious flaws with the Texans' offensive play right now, but Kelly is right on the matter of where to place one's attention. The Texans have the potential to make an opponent pay for too much focus in one place.

"There is just not one thing that we can gang up on and say, ‘Hey, if we stop this you’re going to win the football game,’ because I think they’ve got weapons," Kelly said. "Whether it be at receiver or at running back, they’ve got a solid offensive line, the quarterback’s a good decision-maker, so it’s going to present our defense a big challenge."