- 8 minutes ago
At 2-5 coming out of the bye week, the Houston Texans defense looks nothing like the swarming unit fans expected. Seth Payne and Brandon Scott break down why missed tackles, blown coverages, and Azeez Al-Shaair's lingering injury have derailed DeMeco Ryans' unit—plus why relying on the jumbo package on offense is doing C.J. Stroud no favors.
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00:00So we know the Texans have not given fans a whole lot to cheer about,
00:06a whole lot to be excited about, and certainly not a whole lot to be optimistic about.
00:13Not at 2-5 going into the bye week, not with losses to the Colts and to the Cowboys,
00:20and most recently to the Giants.
00:22Now they've got the Chargers coming up, Seth.
00:25They've got the Chargers coming up, but the Texans are fighting for their lives.
00:28The Chargers are pretty much dead, but the Texans are fighting for their lives,
00:31and they're not in a position to really overlook any opponent, but something's got to change.
00:38Something's got to change, and so I'm curious to hear from you,
00:41and I'm also curious to hear from the people 713-572-4610.
00:46Brandon Scott and Preshawn Pendergast, by the way.
00:48Curious to hear from y'all.
00:50What do y'all feel like needs to change most?
00:52What are your priorities for changes for the Texans post-bye week?
00:57What needs to be different?
00:58What do you think, Seth, man?
00:59What do they got to change?
01:01Yeah, they definitely have a chance, just for one, because I've seen guys play better than they have out there.
01:07And I know that people get frustrated with D'Amico when he'll bring up that, look,
01:15that sometimes it's a matter of guys just not executing the scheme,
01:20because people think, okay, well, you know, offenses have figured out how to attack your scheme.
01:25Offenses have known how they want to attack D'Amico's scheme for a long time.
01:29It's just a matter of, okay, as long as guys are executing the way they're supposed to,
01:33then it hasn't been an issue.
01:37And that's where I'm at a loss.
01:39I just think it's 100% true.
01:41When D'Amico said, look, they don't have any defenses called where CeeDee Lamb is supposed to be uncovered.
01:47Right, that's 100% accurate.
01:49Like, they weren't out there saying, like, yeah, let's just let CeeDee Lamb run around all over the place.
01:55But guys are making basic errors when it comes to sorting out routes,
02:02passing off receivers as they pass through zones.
02:05Sometimes guys are getting beaten man coverage.
02:10The linebackers have not been playing the way we're accustomed to seeing them play.
02:14And I think that's where I think my biggest hope would be that both Aziz and Henry Toa Toa have
02:21been playing injured for a while now.
02:23You know, the Henry Toa Toa wasn't there after week one.
02:27And then when he came back, I think he's still, you know, playing through a bad shoulder injury.
02:32And Aziz has been dealing with that groin.
02:34And that if they can come back and if those two guys are healthy and you look more like you
02:40look when those guys are playing really well,
02:42that it makes a big difference with this defense.
02:46Um, there's like, it's funny that in the offseason, people talk about how much they love Aziz and how important
02:53he is and how he's the,
02:55he makes everything go on that defense.
02:57But because nobody even, because nobody really respects off-ball linebackers anymore, when Aziz goes out or when he's injured,
03:04people don't realize how much of a difference it makes and how hard it is for everybody else to operate.
03:09So a lot of this is really, I'm like riding on not just the linebackers, but Aziz Elshire specifically,
03:15that he needs to be healthy and hopefully playing like he did last year for a lot of the other
03:20stuff to work.
03:21Yeah, two of the things that are most surprising about watching the Texans right now, Seth,
03:25is that they seemingly forgot how to cover or forgot how to run D'Amico Ryan's defense, right?
03:32If you're having these communication issues and this much dysfunction in terms of like what your responsibilities are
03:40and who's supposed to be doing what in a defense that they've already run,
03:43I know they got a new guy back there in Reed Blankenship at safety,
03:46but just how to me the defensive backs have not lived up to, I think, the advertisement, to the billing.
03:56You know, we were calling this one of the better secondaries in all of football
04:00and certainly one of the better cornerback combinations that you had in football,
04:04and they have not looked like that at all.
04:06That's just one observation.
04:08And I think more central to the team is the part that you're mentioning right now with Aziz Elshire,
04:12who I've got a lot of respect for and who has been like really good for the Texans since he's
04:18been here.
04:19But one of the huge differences between last year's defense and this year's defense
04:24was that Aziz Elshire seemed to be playing the best football of his career last year,
04:28and he's just kind of out there at best this year, to put it delicately.
04:34No, I know.
04:34No, honestly, like this is where, you know, PFF grades are sometimes dicey to go by.
04:40But if you look at a guy, an individual player, like, okay, some guys, like,
04:44because some guys have a play style that I think PFF doesn't quite capture just how good they are.
04:48Connor Barwin used to be the one that I felt like got screwed over by PFF
04:52because it was just his play style in that scheme.
04:55They always graded him out as way worse than he actually was.
04:58They graded him as a bad linebacker.
05:00I thought he was really good.
05:02But Aziz, like, by far, on PFF, like, this is the worst coverage grade he's ever had.
05:08Like, last year, he was at a 68.1 in coverage, in pass coverage.
05:12This year, he's at 36.9.
05:14You know, like, his grades across the board are just markedly different,
05:20like, to the category of 20-plus points lower in all these different categories than he's been before.
05:25And I'll make the excuse that injuries have been an issue,
05:30but it did start, like, he still wasn't playing up to his normal caliber
05:35even in the first couple games before that Indianapolis game.
05:38Now, maybe he was working his way through that groin injury in those first two games.
05:42Indianapolis is when he went out in the fourth quarter,
05:45or in the second half, and came back in.
05:48So that was the first hint we saw of him having that groin issue.
05:51But it's made a big difference.
05:53And then the tackling in general, so it's not just disease with the tackling.
05:57Like, I don't know what to say.
06:00I don't, they'd made progress over the last couple years.
06:03In 2023, they were not a good tackling football team.
06:06They got better.
06:07They got better.
06:08And now it's, like, they're back to square one.
06:12And these defensive backs that I used to be really just excited about,
06:17how good and physical they were, are coming up to play against the run.
06:20And Kamari still has his moments.
06:22But as a group, they still, they're not coming up and filling in run support
06:27the way you used to.
06:27Or with a run after catch, they're not doing it either.
06:31That's the really discouraging part.
06:33Yeah, so the tackling is the part where, for me,
06:36I kind of abandoned this whole idea of the defense being figured out.
06:41And I actually want to talk about that in depth with you a little bit later in the show
06:44before we get out of here.
06:45But the reason why I don't buy into that as much is because of how bad the tackling
06:53has been.
06:53It's like in some cases, and look, they've had busted coverages.
06:57They've had communication issues.
06:58It's not just the tackling.
07:01But the tackling has been so bad, and I feel like so central to the identity of the Texans,
07:06at least the one from last year.
07:07The Texans defense from last year was it wasn't its complexity or whether you had the
07:13defense figured out or not, it's that, man, they'd hit you in the mouth.
07:17They'd kind of rattle your jaw a little bit.
07:19Yeah.
07:19And they don't really do that as much anymore.
07:21And I hate to, it's an oversimplification, but I think there's something to, like, this
07:28is why all the great coaches will talk over and over again about how you worry about the
07:33process.
07:33You worry about what's in front of you.
07:36You worry about winning next week.
07:37When this defense started talking very openly about wanting to be one of the greatest defenses
07:42of all time, there's a tendency to sometimes forget how much of that is based and rooted
07:48in just the fundamentals, and that you've got to play your game, and if you do it the right
07:53way, the greatness takes care of itself.
07:56But, like, think about that.
07:58Think about, okay, the tackling has been an issue with a lot of big explosive plays.
08:02The two plays that stick out in my mind are, one, Reed Blankenship in the first game, where
08:08he's going for an interception that he had no chance of making, and D.J. Moore ends up
08:13scoring a touchdown and making it a receptor.
08:16Wait, did he score a touchdown on that play?
08:17Yeah.
08:17Yeah.
08:18And it was, like, 30-plus yards, where it could have been a 15-yard reception.
08:23The other one was the other week with Terrence Smith, when he's going to tackle the rookie,
08:28like, to make a play on the rookie on the sideline, and he just whiffs completely, doesn't break
08:33the pass up, and the rookie runs another 25 yards.
08:37And, like, we're seeing that over and over again of guys not making the right decision
08:43on just, man, secure the tackle first and foremost, and, like, make your stab for glory
08:49when it's appropriate, but don't be pressing so hard for it that you end up making it twice
08:53as bad.
08:54How about Cam Scadaboo bouncing off of Aziz Alshair and Derek Stingley on his way to the
09:02run that basically set up Devin Singletary's game-winning touchdown?
09:06Like, there's a freeze frame of that.
09:08You don't even have to go look at the All-22.
09:10Like, from the TV copy, there's a freeze frame where you can just, like, stop it, where Cam
09:16Scadaboo is dead to rights with three of the Texans' best defensive players around him.
09:22Aziz Alshair, a captain, all-pro Derek Stingley, and Will Anderson Jr. is trailing the play
09:29a little bit, but he's in the frame.
09:31And you're like, no way he's getting out of this.
09:33You've got three of your best guys.
09:35And just hit your space bar, and there is Cam Scadaboo bouncing off of both guys because
09:41Derek Stingley Jr., after watching Cam Scadaboo spearhead into MJ Stewart's chest earlier in
09:47the game, and get a penalty for it, albeit a penalty for it.
09:51But saw that happen.
09:52Thought that he could just go up there and shoulder tackle Cam Scadaboo with the game on
09:57the line.
09:58And of course, Aziz, as we've mentioned, has been injured, and it's just not been as
10:02effective.
10:02But that's one of the things.
10:04The last couple, you know what?
10:05And I'll add into that, the defensive line.
10:07The really discouraging thing of the last couple weeks where the Texans have bled a
10:11lot of yardage on the ground is that they've been out there in 5D lineman packages a lot.
10:17When the Jaguars or the Giants went with heavy personnel, you know, and the Giants have that
10:23freaking Patrick Ricard, that 300-pound fullback.
10:26So he's basically like an extra offensive lineman out there.
10:29The Texans out there with five defensive linemen and bleeding yardage still.
10:34Like it just, that part of it, like their inability to bring out five defensive linemen
10:40and they still can't stop the run.
10:42That's been really, really discouraging.
10:44The defensive ends at times haven't been disciplined in forcing the run back inside.
10:48And that's like, that's one of the critical elements of this defense is that you've got
10:53to have those defensive ends.
10:54If you're going to cock them out wide and give them that opportunity to rush the passer,
10:58the one thing that they really have to do is not allow the run to get past them.
11:03And it happened in that Giants game way too much.
11:07So it's, yeah, it's across the board.
11:08It's all 11 guys on defense, both in stopping the run and in stopping the pass,
11:13where it's just, there's so many individual breakdowns that I can like, I can look at various
11:18plays and say, okay, maybe there is something to the scheme being too simple, what have you.
11:23On this specific play, this huge explosive play, there is nothing elegant or mysterious
11:29about this guys just got beat or guys just weren't executing their responsibility.
11:34Yeah.
11:35Well, in the whole part about not playing to their identity, like part, part of their identity
11:41is the, like, there's some charm in their simplicity and having this whole swarm mentality.
11:47I know a lot of people think it's maybe corny or whatever the case may be, but when they go
11:52out there and actually do it, you know, like last year when they, they talked about a swarm
11:57mentality and it actually looked like a swarmy defense and you guys do a circle of swarm
12:02on this show and we've all bought into this idea of being swarmy because they actually
12:07play to the identity.
12:09They don't, they don't do a bunch of confusing stuff, but they're like, they're gnats on you
12:15know what, right?
12:15Like they are swarming to the football and they just have not been like that.
12:20And you mentioned the defensive line.
12:22That's one that probably goes overlooked because they're giving up so many big plays on the back
12:25end, but you know, I credited the defensive line, that interior defensive line last year,
12:30guys like Tommy Togiai and Sheldon Rankins and they've brought in the rookie Caden McDonald
12:35and we just have not seen a enough from them, enough from them, enough disruption, enough
12:41swarminess kind of to their own mantra have not seen that at all really this year.
12:45Right.
12:46And, uh, and that's the part I, when it comes back to tackling, if you go back to some of
12:51the great, more simple defenses, the Legion of Boom is the big one, um, which, and they
12:57were way more simple than the Texans even, but the kind of the hidden stat or the hidden
13:03thing that people don't really talk about when it's going well is how good they were at
13:07tackling.
13:08They were incredibly sound tacklers.
13:11So what happens with that is, all right, you allow, you allow, you allow, uh, an easy
13:17reception, but instead of it going for a first down now it's, you know, second and five, you
13:23know, because they don't get that six yards after the catch.
13:26They were really, really sound tacklers.
13:28And that's exactly the opposite of what the Texans have had.
13:30And so many of these explosive plays haven't just been because somebody caught a ball on
13:34you.
13:34It was because they'd be, because they got run after the catch.
13:38The other thing too, uh, is just some of the, like just flat out, you go back to the
13:43Buffalo game.
13:44All right.
13:45It's not the Joshua, it's not like Kamari Lasseter can't cover Joshua Palmer.
13:49It's just that Kamari Lasseter got caught sleeping on that play and, uh, and then they
13:54took it from him.
13:55There's nothing about the scheme or anything there that, that turned Kamari Lasseter into
14:00a disadvantaged football player right there.
14:02It was just that Kamari Lasseter whiffed on that play.
14:05Um, and that's like, it's whether they were reading their press clippings too much or whatever
14:10it might be, you just got too many individuals that aren't playing.
14:14Yeah.
14:14That they're not, you're the, the swarm part.
14:16You're a hundred percent right.
14:17That swarm.
14:18It's not there.
14:19Like, it's just, I don't know if they got too soft or I keep seeing, there's a few people
14:24that keep telling me, well, it's cause they paid everybody.
14:26They didn't pay Kamari Lasseter yet.
14:27They didn't pay.
14:28They didn't pay Kalen Bullock yet.
14:30Plus, if you look around the league, there are a boatload of dudes who are on their second,
14:35third, fourth, and fifth contracts that are playing their asses off where it's not that
14:39like, it's not that guy's got a big contract and all of a sudden they're not playing well.
14:44Will Anderson got paid this off season.
14:46He's playing like one of the best defensive ends in the league.
14:48It's something deeper than that.
14:50It's just, that's way too simple to say, well, it's cause they gave these guys big contracts.
14:54Oh, it's not just simple.
14:55It's a little bit lazy, but I also think it's desperate because when something happens
15:00that you can't really rationalize or make sense of, and I think all of us are, to be
15:05fair, we are all struggling to make sense of how did a defense that tackled so well and
15:11it was so swarmy and all of these other things, how did they turn into a pumpkin so soon?
15:15How did a secondary that was in contention for one of the best in the league suddenly forget
15:21how to cover or how to run its own defense, right?
15:24How to communicate on the back end of his defense.
15:26Like these are things that we struggle to explain.
15:29And so I think we just start to sometimes just say things that don't even make sense.
15:33Oh, this guy got paid without even actually looking at who all got paid.
15:37I mean, the one, the one guy who did get paid was Aziz Al-Shair.
15:41And he's also like one of the few guys that you could look at and say, that guy's not changing
15:45because he got paid, right?
15:47Like a stand-up dude, you can call him injured.
15:50You can maybe say they're a little less focused as a group or maybe he's missing, maybe he's
15:56missing his linebacker mates or his own injuries or whatever it is.
16:00It's not because he got paid.
16:01So I think people are just trying to figure out a way to explain the difficult to explain.
16:07But this defense turning into a pumpkin is a really, really difficult thing to wrap my mind around.
16:12How about another thing that I want them to improve on or to focus on what needs to be
16:18different after the bye week?
16:20How about sunsetting that jumbo package?
16:22Maybe not completely sunsetting, but can we just put it off to the side?
16:27Maybe like barely, if ever, do it.
16:30Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:31Not 44% of the time when you're going against it, when CJ's playing really well.
16:37I think that's a part of, it feels like CJ's playing well.
16:43They trade for Marvin Harrison Jr.
16:45Hey, Tank Dell is back.
16:46But you're living in a house where you've got plastic on the nice furniture forever.
16:52And you're just like, no, we're going to keep these things as pristine as possible.
16:56I didn't expect Tank Dell.
16:57I don't think Tank Dell should have gotten 50 snaps in his first game back or anything.
17:00That was a smart thing to do.
17:01I was kind of surprised to see Marvin Harrison only get 12 snaps.
17:05And also, Nico Collins got the fewest snaps he's gotten in a game all year long.
17:10That part of it, that part of it does not make sense to me.
17:15When you're just, you're not that good at running the football in or out of jumbo package.
17:20They average 3.7 yards per attempt when they run the ball out of jumbo.
17:24You know, and some of those are in short yardage, so that's going to be skewed a little bit.
17:28They, you know what they pass for out of jumbo?
17:31Uh, they average 12.2 yards per play when they pass out of jumbo.
17:36They just hardly ever do it.
17:37Yeah.
17:38And some of it, and when they are successful, they're huge chunk plays.
17:42They're like 40 yard plays.
17:43So there's still not, their completion percentage isn't great out of it, but it does every now
17:48and then set up a huge shot play because they hardly ever do it.
17:51But in the, in the meantime, as you're setting that up, you can't just be, you can't be sacrificing
17:57entire sets of downs, not running the ball well, just so every now and then you get a shot play
18:02out of it.
18:03Yeah.
18:03This is the part of it.
18:04That's most frustrating.
18:05It's actually kind of two layered and you just hit on both of them.
18:08On the one hand, you're, you're just not that good at it.
18:12Like, and this was the case last year where they would run jumbo, but they still couldn't
18:16really run the ball all that well.
18:19And so it's like, it's not really working.
18:21And then the other layer of it is, it's also a tendency now.
18:26So like, you've got a tendency, it's predictable and it doesn't work, right?
18:30The, the, the part about predictability, it works if like, you can just do it anyway, despite
18:37the fact that they know it's coming a QB sneak, a tush push, right?
18:41Certain, certain things that just work no matter if they know it's coming or not.
18:45Now, this is not that like it, it'd be one thing if, Hey, we're going to put out all
18:49these offensive linemen.
18:50They know we running it, but we, we get those two or three yards or whatever we're trying
18:54to get every time anyway.
18:55And if they had the success to justify it, but it's both, it doesn't work and it's predictable.
19:01And so that just kind of kills the momentum or however you want to look at the, the, the
19:06passing game and what CJ Stroud has going on.
19:09Like it almost feels like a wasted, like a wasted idea or a wasted exercise when you do it
19:15that much with that little effectiveness.
19:17So I'd like to see them either sunset that or just do it dramatically less.
19:23I went and, um, cause one thing that I was kind of toying around with was all right, man,
19:28like Braden Smith, maybe, maybe it's time for him to come in and play for Keelan Rutledge
19:32or something.
19:33Uh, Wyatt Teller is probably not an option at this point.
19:40I, I don't know.
19:41Um, I went back and I watched all Keelan Rutledge's snaps and that's the problem is I feel good
19:46about him in the run game.
19:48Um, and, but just like a scouting profile, I'm really nervous about him in pass protection
19:53and I, it's not like he's not doing anything good out there.
19:57It's just that when he whiffs and pass protection, it's really bad.
20:01And, uh, but as a group, they're not, they're not running the ball all that well.
20:07Um, and yet at the same time, I feel like he's not the problem in the run game necessarily.
20:13So are you going to ride it out with him or do they get to the point where they feel
20:16like,
20:16okay, at this point we need a veteran in there who at least has some experience playing guard
20:20from college and move Braden Smith down there?
20:23I don't, I don't know, but it's just not ideal right now.