DeAndre Hopkins Expertly Trolls Humiliated Texans After Bill O’Brien’s Opening Night Math Disaster

Why a Bunch of No. 2s and 3s Do Not Add Up to a No. 1 — Coach's False Equation Looms Large

BY Chris Baldwin // 09.11.20

Save Article

Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes will likely meet in more games. But only Mahomes is an NFL champion now.

DeAndre Hopkins leaves little question about where he feels he fits into the game.

Houston Texans coach Bill O'Brien is used to taking grief.

Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins will be forever linked together even if Bill O'Brien's trade has torn them apart.

Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes will likely meet in more games. But only Mahomes is an NFL champion now.

Count DeAndre Hopkins among the interested observers 0f the Houston Texans’ bowing meekly to the Kansas City Chiefs on the NFL’s opening night. Shortly after the Texans fell down 31-7 to the Chiefs, showing how sorely they missed the true No. 1 wideout that Bill O’Brien couldn’t wait to get rid of, Hopkins took to Twitter like Zorro takes to sword play.

Grateful.
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) September 11, 2020

With one simple word, Hopkins perfectly tweaked the Texans in the most subliminal unsubliminal way possible. Could Hopkins just happened to have been celebrating life — and his new $54.5 million contract — right after his former team suffered a national TV embarrassment? Sure. And the unicorn really ate your daughter’s homework, too.

Hopkins gave himself just enough cover to be able to feign innocence later.

It’s an all-pro tweet for an all-world receiver. The Texans clearly look worse without Hopkins. Patrick Mahomes and his all-star supporting cast beats Deshaun Watson and his C-List C0-Stars 34-20.

Outdoor Dining with Bering's

Swipe

This on a night when running back David Johnson, O’Brien’s great reclamation project, actually played well. O’Brien’s belief that a bunch of No. 2 and No. 3 wide receivers could add up to a true No. 1 took a beating on opening night.

Will Fuller (eight catches for 112 yards) actually put up decent numbers. Which Fuller usually does when he can stay on the field. But Fuller, Brandin Cooks (two catches for 20 yards), $9 million man Randall Cobb (two catches for 23 yards) and Kenny Stills (zero catches) all struggled to get any separation. The Texans also dropped five Watson passes, more drops than Hopkins has in an entire season.

No wonder why DeAndre was enjoying a little late Thursday night Twitter.

“There’s a lot of things to fix,” O’Brien says in his postgame Zoom press conference. “It’s one game, but we have to improve quickly.”

The Texans (0-1) are no closer to the Chiefs than they were last January. In fact, you could argue they put up much less resistance in this game than they did in building that 24-0 playoff lead.

It turns out having a true No. 1 receiver matters. The New England Patriots were better with Randy Moss too.

Who knew? Except for DeAndre Hopkins and the rest of the football watching world.