There is no denying that since DeMeco Ryans arrived as the new head coach of the Houston Texans in 2023, that this team\u2019s ethos stems from the defensive side of the football. Ryans\u2019 \u201cS.W.A.R.M.\u201d mentality is embodied in the violent style with which his defense attacks opponents each week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That mentality has largely served the Houston Texans well, as they\u2019ve evolved into one of, if not THE, best defenses in football over the last two seasons. There is no denying that either. It\u2019s not an opinion, it\u2019s a statistical fact. However, while they are an excellent defense, they are not perfect. The Texans have a proclivity for giving up far more explosive plays than a defense this talented should allow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Explosive plays are generally viewed as runs of 12 or more yards, and pass completions of 16 or more yards. So why is allowing explosive plays such a big deal? Well, when you have a defense like the Texans have, where marching methodically down the field on a 10- to 13-play drive is a near impossibility for an opposing offense, explosive plays mean that the opposing offense only needs to go five or six plays \u2014 or in the case of the Bills on Sunday, four or fewer plays \u2014 to get into the end zone.<\/p>\n
Preventing \u201cexplosives,\u201d as DeMeco Ryans refers to these plays through a truncated, one word label, has been a stated goal of the Ryans, defensive coordinator Matt Burke, and every defensive player in front of a microphone these last few months. They have supposedly focused on it in practice and in film sessions. Sunday\u2019s performance, however, makes me wonder if any of the Texans were paying attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Sunday, against the Bills, the Texans allowed nine pass plays of 16 yards or more. Furthermore, five of those nine completions were for 34 yards or more, including both of Josh Allen\u2019s touchdown passes. In short, on a Sunday following a summer trying to figure out how to not give up explosive plays, the Texans had their worst day preventing them under Ryans\u2019 tutelage:\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are plenty of opinions as to what went wrong on Sunday for the Texans, some of them are theoretical and some are execution-related. I\u2019ll throw a few of them out there, and let you decide which one works best for your mental health:<\/p>\n
The Texans didn\u2019t play any defensive starters in the preseason<\/p>\n
If I am being literal here, then that statement is not 100 percent accurate, as new safety Reed Blankenship actually did play some snaps in the second preseason game versus the Raiders. Other than that, the only thing resembling real work against real opponents that the starting defense received was in the two joint practices with the Raiders and Panthers. I\u2019d buy into this theory a bit more if the one guy who played in the preseason, Blankenship, wasn\u2019t arguably the worst player on the field for the Texans on Sunday. Instead, I\u2019m left shrugging my shoulders on this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Texans\u2019 defense were reading their own press clippings<\/p>\n
In the weeks leading up to the season, there were long form articles about the greatness of the Texans\u2019 defense on ESPN\u2019s website, The Athletic, and the Texans\u2019 defense was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. There was no shortage of outlets telling the Texans\u2019 defense how great they are. This is what DeMeco Ryans calls \u201crat poison,\u201d a term coined originally by Nick Saban referring to all of the praise and adulation coming from the general public, praise and adulation which, while fun to read, means nothing. That said, I think this is a group who knows how to properly internalize praise. They are a group of psychopaths, don\u2019t get me wrong, but they are reasonable, intelligent psychopaths. Onto what I think actually happened.<\/p>\n
It was just a bad day at the office. They didn\u2019t execute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the first time in Houston against Josh Allen, who might be the most talented football player on the planet, the Texans just didn\u2019t get the job done. When pressed on why his defense gave up so many big plays, DeMeco Ryans said, at his Monday press conference, that the players were out of position, and when they had chances to make plays, they flat out failed to do so. I subscribe to this theory, as to why the Texans had their worst defensive game of the Ryans Era, and it\u2019s why I\u2019m still so bullish on the team\u2019s Super Bowl chances after Sunday. The defense will be fine. The offense was the problem last season, and they look to have fixed things significantly on that side of the ball. Hope stays live, Texans fans!\u00a0<\/p>\n
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