You can admit it. When Arian Foster rushed for over 200 yards and Mario Williams picked up a couple of sacks (along with nine other pressures on the quarterback,) as the Texans dominated the Colts in Week 1, you thought this was a new era for the Houston Texans. They looked like a playoff team in the making, not a team who would wait too long before making their ultimately unsuccessful push for the post season.
Courtesy of having one of the worst secondaries you’re ever likely to see on an NFL field, and with a linebacker group that suffered from suspension, injury and poor play, Houston flopped. They may have had the rushing leader, our top ranked receiver and an excellent offensive line, but that counted for nothing with a defense that, outside of Mario Williams, was poor in most places and average at best in others.
So out went Frank Bush and his 4-3 and in comes Wade Phillips and his 3-4. An interesting change given the players they have on their roster, and one that brings about a whole set of new needs that we’re only too glad to explore.
Outside Linebacker
Though the Texans are moving to a 3-4, their starting defensive ends from 2010 aren’t going to be converting to outside linebackers. What does that mean for Mario Williams and Antonio Smith? Well logic would suggest moving inside will lessen their production to a degree, and so what Houston really needs is someone who can bring pressure off the edge. Now, that could be Connor Barwin, a guy management had big plans for in 2010, but he hasn’t really done anything in the NFL and is coming off an injury. Do you really want to rely on him?
Or do you want to find yourself an elite pass rushing prospect in one of the most stacked draft classes in recent memory? Whatever is done with their secondary, the Texans need to generate more pressure to make life easier for the players back there. While there are no short term fixes, giving quarterbacks less time and leaving their guys in coverage for shorter spells seems a good plan for limiting damage while you try and coax some improvement out of a young unit. It’s a quarterback-driven league, so don’t hesitate to find some extra pass rush.
Nose Tackle
So you resigned Sean Cody. So what? Do you think that does anything but highlight the need for a nose tackle? Cody didn’t have a terrible year and was pretty average in all respects (a +0.2 grade on the year.) He’s not going to eat up a lot of blocks like an Aubrayo Franklin, nor is he going to penetrate like a Jay Ratliff. So what is he going to do?
Houston is going to need more from their nose tackle, especially with their defensive ends being more the type to get up field than disrupt the run game. Why it isn’t a primary need is that with the prevalence of multiple receiver sets, you won’t get a base set nose tackle on the field for more than 50% of snaps. With so many needs the Texans need to find someone first and foremost who can contribute on an every down basis.
Safety
It could quite easily be cornerback, but it almost feels like selecting a cornerback would be giving up on Glover Quin or Kareem Jackson, and it’s too soon for that. So, instead focus on a glaring need and that’s at either safety spot. In the box, Bernard Pollard seemed to be running on adrenalin for his debut Texan year before coming crashing back to earth with a poor 2010. Still, he does have his uses, and has proven a good safety in run support. The bigger issue is with the free safety the Texans so desperately need.
This year was the turn of Eugene Wilson (-11.1) and Troy Nolan (-6.0) to rotate, with neither man excelling. It was so bad that both men ranked in the bottom 22 (of 85 safeties who played the qualifying amount of snaps) in terms of pure coverage, with Wilson ending the year with our third lowest rating. Life would be a lot easier for the cornerbacks if they could rely on any kind of support, with Wilson in particular doing a good job of looking invisible in coverage.
So it’s another obvious need for the Texans, but how important is it? Is safety as important as finding someone to anchor the run or someone to attack the passer? There’s an argument that perhaps, in this case, it is, given the performance of the Texans secondary. But in this NFL, the focus remains on getting to the passer and for that reason, it should be a priority for Houston to get themselves a pass rush, giving time for their young secondary to show what they’re made of.
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