HOUSTON – Cam Ward was surrounded, boxed in and unsure what to do. And there was little visible daylight or space for the Tennessee Titans’ rookie quarterback to operate.
It was a textbook defensive performance from the Texans as they bottled up the top overall pick of the draft during a 26-0 shutout victory Sunday at NRG Stadium.
For the Texans, this marked the first shutout since Nov. 28, 2010 against the Titans. And the third shutout in franchise history represents a flex of the Texans’ defense, which is off to a historically strong start.
Four games into the season, the Texans are off to a 1-3 start. While their offense has fallen short with the exception of the fourth quarter with three touchdowns against the Titans, the defense has been exceptional.
They’re the top-ranked scoring defense in the NFL, allowing just 12.8 points per contest. They rank fifth in total defense, seventh against the pass and 12th against the run.
“Man, it means everything,” Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said after blanking the Titans. “I thought we went out and we played tremendous defense. That’s the type of defense that we knew we had. If we can keep doing that every week, everybody being on the details and just flying around having fun ..
“I feel like that’s the most energy that we’ve had on defense so far this year. Everybody just being free, flying around, having fun and executing the game plan. It’s all about us.”
It’s still early in the season. And the Texans, after a rough, 0-3 start to begin the fall, the two-time defending AFC South champions are working diligently to right their season.
They have a prime opportunity against the Baltimore Ravens on the road Sunday. The Ravens, who are struggling on defense while playing without injured linebacker Roquan Smith, cornerback Nate Wiggins and defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike and could be without star quarterback Lamar Jackson on Sunday due to a hamstring injury.
The Texans have never won a game in Baltimore in franchise history.
And the Texans’ defense represents their best chance at perhaps ending that streak.
While the Texans have only forced three turnovers, including All-Pro corner Derek Stingley Jr. intercepting Ward once as he completed just 10 of 26 passes for 108 yards, no touchdowns and one interception for a 35.4 passer rating, they have kept opponents from scoring much.
The Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks are tied for second in scoring defense, allowing 67 points apiece. The Texans have allowed just 51 points overall.
Only six NFL teams over the past quarter-century have allowed fewer than 13 points per game for an entire season: the 2000 Ravens, led by Ray Lewis, 10.3 points per game, the 2000 Titans (11.9 points) per game, the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice (12.3 points per game), the 2006 Ravens (12.6 points per game), the 2005 Chicago Bears (12.6 points per game) and the 2001 Bears (12.7 points per game).
This can be a winning formula for the Texans: a stout defense, an offense led by C.J. Stroud that has a running game headlined by rookie Woody Marks, who scored two touchdowns, and Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins.
The defense held the Titans to 175 yards of total offense.
No turnovers, less penalties and a commanding time of possession advantage of 38 minutes, 21 seconds to the Titans’ 21 minutes, 39 seconds.
Yes, this could be the blueprint for more wins.
“I’m proud of our guys for executing, doing the things that we ask to do,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, who delegated defensive play-calling to defensive coordinator Matt Burke. “Again, just playing complimentary football. That’s what it takes to win in this league, all three phases playing together. The main thing for us, what we did well was offensively, was protecting the football.
“You protect the football, your percent chances of winning the game that percentage goes up a ton when you possess the football. So, we did that and we had an opportunity, defensively, to take it away and we did. So, those things worked.”
As did Stingley, who signed a three-year, $90 million extension in new money this offseason.
Stingley played despite a painful left oblique injury that limited him to one practice last week.
“Really proud of Sting for pushing through and being able to play,” Ryans said. “Knowing he was battling all week in pain and see him gut it out, that’s huge. Huge for Sting, huge for everybody to see that there is a difference when you’re hurting. Everybody is feeling something. You play the game long enough, you’re going to be in a little pain, but to see the guy push through and show up and make some plays for us, it was big for us.
“What I can see from Sting last week as I was seeing him walking down the halls, he had a look in his eye: ‘No matter what happens, I’m going to find a way to play in this game.’ Once I seen that look in his eye, I was not questioning that he was going to be out there.”
Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter, signed to a one-year, $35.6 million contract extension this offseason that pays him $54.1 million total guaranteed over the next two years, sacked Ward twice.
Hunter is now up to 103 1/2 career sacks and has four sacks this season as he combines with Anderson to form one of the top pass rushing tandems in the NFL.
“Danielle doesn’t say much, but he says a lot about how he plays,” Ryans said. “He’s consistently around the quarterback, applying pressure. I think he’s done a really nice job this year of just understanding the scheme, what we’re asking him to do when it comes to setting edges in the run game. Overall, as a leader, what I like about him is how the other guys look up to him, especially in the defensive line room.
“Those guys are constantly talking. He talks to those guys. He might not talk to us much, but he talks to the guys in the defensive line room, and they’re all feeding off of each other. We have a special guy that our guys can lean on, seek advice from and he’s there to share that wisdom.”
The Texans held the Titans to 2 of 11 on third down conversions.
And the missed tackles, a problem in losses to the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars, wasn’t an issue against the Titans.
“Coach DeMeco, we do keys to victory, that was one of his biggest things,” Anderson said. “He was like, man, let’s secure the tackle, let everybody get to the ball. One guy punches the ball, second guy come in and get the tackle. We just got to keep progressing, man and keep everybody swarming to the ball.”
Hunter, a chiseled, 6-foot-5, 264-pound Morton Ranch graduate, is up to 16 sacks in 21 games for the Texans.
“Danielle has been great, man,” Anderson said. “I’m super proud of him. I always get chills when I talk about Danielle and a big smile comes on my face because you don’t see a guy like him like in this league at all, the way he finishes, the way approaches, the way he prepares throughout the week, there’s no wonder why you see what he does on Sunday. I’m just here following in his footsteps and just trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can from a guy like that.”
It was obvious that Ward, talented as he is, was shaken up by the Texans’ dynamic pass rush led by Hunter.
“That was part of the game plan to affect the quarterback as much as we possibly could, knowing that he was a rookie quarterback,” Hunter said. “There’s still room for improvement. It’s the beginning of the season, just keep elevating my game, and playing together as a defense. The biggest thing was just focusing on all the mistakes that we did on defense in the past three weeks. Tackling, all of that coming together, and we played sound football.
“Everybody in this league know that we’ve got a talented roster on the defense side of the ball and offense side of the ball. We just got to put it on display. Not to get too big-headed or ahead of ourselves, we still got to do it a lot more times. So, it’s just another day in the office for us. ”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.