The Best Defense in the NFL

The Best Defense in the NFL

The best defense in football currently resides down in Houston, Texas. Very few defensive coordinators hired to be head coaches have panned out over the past decade, but Demo Ryan has this team built different. Talented top to bottom with a scheme to match their speed, nobody wants to face this Texans defense. As ferocious a pass rushing tandem as you’ll find in the league, Will Anderson and Denil Hunter bookend this defense, bringing havoc to any who stray into their path. Houston walk alshier up to the line presenting a fiveman rush forcing the Bills into a five out protection getting both their stud rushers one-on-one battles starting with Anderson he’s anticipating that snap count and shows his rapid getoff time accelerating at lightning speed to get around the hurried kickstep he drops his hips rips through with the inside arm and bends the corner ready to crash into Josh Allen spotting this in his peripheral vision Allen looks to step up but part two of his problems is about to arrive at the filthy crossover Denil Hunter puts on Dion Dawkins, jabbing hard outside to sell the rush before cutting hard to the paint as if he’s going in for the poster. Dawkins has been playing at an allpro level this year. So, beating a player this good this easily is a hell of a rep. However, they are still trying to hunt one of the league’s greatest escape artists who somehow manages to step back and make Will Anderson miss, then juke out Hunter. But what this defense does best is swarm and Mario Edwards working the contain wraps around to meet Anderson for the sack. Both ends are capable of wrecking the play completely on their own too. Will Anderson snap reactions and instantaneous acceleration consistently trouble tackles even when they set well. Walker Little thinks he’s kickstep to a good spot to neutralize the edge rush but keep the B gap closed. Yet Anderson is just too fast to the edge, ripping under to crash into Lawrence and force an incompletion here against the Titans. He’s going to show that he can convert that speed to power and just walks the left tackle all the way back into Cam Ward. When he gets close, he swims off the block and chops down into Ward, knocking the low ball free and even manages to recover himself, completing the Matthysse. And how about this ridiculous effort to chase down Josh Allen. Spencer Brown is in the crosshairs again, kicking hard to send Anderson the long way around. Will works hard up field to get the edge. Shows the hand like he’s going for the bull rush only to swipe away Browns, ripping to turn the corner. The bend is just bananas, somehow flattening his angle and leaping to grab a hold of the QB. But you really got to bring the muscle when tackling this man. And Allen shrugs him off and spins out the pocket. But Will never gives up getting up off the floor and giving maximum effort to complete the chase down sack. Elite effort combined with athleticism. Not to be left out the party, Denil Hunter is one of the league’s top pass rushers and has been for almost a decade. If he’s left one-on-one, there’s going to be some problems. Houston walks both backers up in a double mug look, forcing five out protection and the back has to work inside in case both blitz, leaving Hunter to dance on Anton Harrison. Closing the space between you and the tackle as quickly as possible is the aim of the game at edge. And Hunter hits him with the filthy euroep to collapse that cushion and keep him guessing. Harrison does a good job to engage with the hand fight, but Hunter extends with the inside arm to create separation. And one arm is longer than two, remember? Then rips under to wrap up Lawrence. This time it’s Hunter’s turn to add to Brown’s bad day, who won’t even give Allen a chance to think before he brings him down. Brown sets wide, but Hunter notices him leave a shot to his chest, engaging, then hitting him with the pin pull, slingshotting himself through for the sack. And one more for good measure because I can’t leave this one out. Hunter sells the crossover to threaten that edge angle again only to spin back inside violently dropping Brown to the ground with the people’s elbow. Allen’s already running from his left guard getting whipped and Hunter stops any chance of escaping with another leaping sack. To be a great unit, the rush must tie into the coverage. Getting pressure with four is the goal, but the secondary can help the rush by taking away immediate options and creating confusion with match coverages. Houston are a big proponent of quarters, dividing the offense up by its numbers count and matching each receiver based on their release. The outside guys have the number ones to their side, locking them up in man unless they go under. Then they drop to a deep quarter zone. The twos are being watched by the overhangs and the safeties, choosing who takes the receiver based off the route and release. The mic is then watching the three and you can give a push call and swap with either overhang if there’s a fast to the flat. Quarters not only allows for the matching of routes based on exactly what the offense runs, but provides players with an opportunity to get involved if there’s no one for them to cover. Miles Bryant can clamp down on the dig with nothing vertical from the two. And there’s no receiver available for Trevor Lawrence, sending him into scramble mode. Look how well it does to distribute the Chiefs routes in the condensed space of the red zone. Kansas City have a four strong formation called pushing the other overhang player over to match between the three and four with the mic, but everything else plays out exactly the same. Stingley clamps to the one. Petri pushes to the fast four and the hook route and the drag are taken by the backer level. By the time a mesh player does come open, the pocket is squeezing around Mahomes and he’s off running like a toddler trying to get any yard he can. Here’s more nice distribution again here to deal with the trips formation and switch release. The Texans disguise like they’re in single high man here, but have a quarters poach coverage called having the near side safety poach over ready for any crosser, locking the backside and man coverage. Lacier and Reed do a great job to communicate the switch verts, leaving both of them to drop in their quarters and swap responsibilities. And with good coverage backside, DJ has run out of options. The Jaws of Life close in on the pocket. And there’s nowhere to go but down. And back against the Chiefs, more quarters coverage with the very clever blitz. Standard quarters look here versus the 2 by two formation. But when the Chiefs show a two-man route concept from the away twins formation, leaving both tight ends into block, the Texans have a nice adjustment called with his man preoccupied with Hunter, Lacier is left without a job. But not needing any more deep help versus the two routes, he won’t drop into coverage. He’s going to blitz straight through that open C gap. There’s no way for the Chiefs to account for this in the protection, and Lacier screams through the line and scares Mahomes into a throwaway. Having top corners makes the entire game easier. And there’s an old adage in football, if you can play man. The left side is occupied by Derek Stingley, who is an allp pro last year. But it’s been second-year player Kamari Laceder, who’s been the best corner for Houston over this 5-game win streak. Textbook snap here on the back shoulder fade, mirroring step for step on the release and squeezing his man into the sideline. then timing the look back perfectly, reaching out a paw to swat this away. He’ll get physical on these routes, too. Playing right up to the line of the whistle, pissing off receivers. There’s grabbing, but it’s going both ways. And it’s brilliant mirroring again to work back on the cut. Eyes up, ready to swat it in complete. That’s not to say Stingley has been bad, just that Lacier is playing awesome right now. Stingley has put up some allp pro reps, even if the plays have been more up and down this season. Not fooled or glued down by the Hezi, Stingley only redirects when his receiver does, climbing into the back pocket of his receiver and riding the drag route. Tilaw thinks he can beat the tight coverage with a better throw, but he’s sorely mistaken as Stingley soarses in front to catch this onehanded. Ridiculous. And I can’t let this snap from dime corner Tremon Smith go uncovered because you’ll want to put this in your Coach tape archive. Patient on the release, mirroring step for step up the stem. Hand on the back to feel the cut. Then run the end of the route for them. Tipping this up and completing a miraculous catch even if he lands in the sideline. Combining match and man, another thing the Texans do well is distribute bunch concepts. Offenses will get into a bunch look to try and create friction and confusion for the corners, having them cross paths and collide when trying to cover their man. To counter, defenses will use match principles to figure out who they’re covering, attaching to a receiver once they declare their intentions. Here, Bulock has the first in, Petri the first out, and Stingley anything deep into the boundary. Bullock knows he has free safety help, too. So, when the first inside route also goes to the post, he can wheel off and look to find help. There’s absolutely nowhere for Mahomes to go and you can’t hesitate with his pass rush because they’ll put you in the dirt. And here it is again later in the game. The Chiefs try to make the distribution even harder to work out by bringing the bunch in tight, but the Texans corners stick to the same match rules and distribute the baby scissors beautifully, leaving Mahomes with nowhere to go. He tries to work backside, but pressure hits him before the ball can go anywhere. Houston loves to use these match rules to catch you with a creative blitz too. They start with a backer walked up threatening five against the Colts, but when downs exit motions to change the numbers on the bunch, the defense takes shape. Both the mic and Petri over the bunch come on the blitz to make it six as Al Shier drops to catch the first inb breaking route. Brian has the first out and Stingley capping it. The rub action gets a man free this time, but the six-man blitz rushes DJ and he’s chosen the wrong option that’s quickly clamped closed by Stingley. Here against the Titans, they get to this match bunch blitz from a double mug look. Only one of the backers will blitz with Shyier again tasked as the dropper carrying the first inro. The sixth blitzer comes from Lacier at the bottom of the screen, who comes unblocked to Ward and is only beaten to the QB by teammate Will Anderson, who we showed earlier knocked this ball free for the strip sack recovery. And lastly, we’ve got to give a shout out to nickel safety Jaylen Petri. Petri is the Swiss Army slot that ties front to back. able to fill any role required here. He’s guarding Michael Pitman in the slot, shuffling to open and be ready to win with the fade, but controlled enough to sit on the curl, leaping in front for the breakup. This time he’s in the slot against Guju, making an even better play on the ball. Covering the slant, Jaylen doesn’t want to just clamp down straight away and close the passing window, but actively baits Mahomes into the throw, staying distant from the receiver, but with the perfect angle to undercut. Mahomes tests him and Petri jumps and bats it skyward, showing outstanding instincts to track it and complete the interception. Elite awareness on that one. It’s not just coverage that makes him one of the league’s top players. He ties front to back by always being around the ball. When Indie lines up in this condensed version of slot left with the offball tight end, Petri knows what play Indy is running and comes tearing off the backside to blow up the run. And this time working from up high, he’s going to lay the boom. Look, I have no idea what Mahomes thinks he’s doing here on the sprint option, but he’s got to throw this one to one of the hooks. Can’t be dancing back against the grain and trying to make a play on this concept. He finds himself in improv mode like he does too often and thinks he can just float one over to Rasheed Rice. But Petri comes flying downhill and lays the boom. On a mission to drag an up and down offense to the playoffs, the Texans defense are here to take your lunch money. With blue chips across the board and a scheme tailored to them, this unit has the skills and smarts to match up against anyone. Nobody’s going to want to see them down the stretch, and they’re going to upset a good offense come playoff time.

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