(SportsRadio 610) - The Texans defense last season, headed up by Lovie Smith, was one of the worst in football.
They finished the 2021 season with the second most yards allowed, second in most rush yards allowed, third in yards allowed per play and sixth in most points allowed. They were bad.
Through the first four weeks of the 2022 season, with Smith still heading up those coordinator duties as well as head coach, the defense has improved, but continues to leave much to be desired.
Linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, who is second on the team in total tackles, said earlier this week trust and communication has been an issue they’ve yet to overcome.
“I think just trusting each other, everybody being on the same page, communication. There’s a lot of different factors that can help with that,” Grugier-Hill said. “It’s really just coming in everyday and working, trying to figure everything out. It’s one of those things where it’s not looking pretty right now, but there’s a lot of football left. We’ve seen it every year. Teams turn around and can make big changes.”
The Texans have allowed the fourth most yards, the second-most rush yards, the 12th-most yards per play and 16th-most points.
Houston made several additions in the offseason, including drafting two key starters in Derek Stingley Jr. and Jalen Pitre, both of whom have been significant upgrades for a secondary that finished as the worst unit in the league last season, despite ranking sixth in interceptions with 14 by season's end.
Their pass rush, which finished with the fifth-fewest sacks in the league, was supposed to be much improved given the emergence of third-year defensive end Jonathan Greenard, who finished with a team high eight sacks in 2021.
He has 1.5 sacks through four games while playing in nearly 10% more snaps per game than he did last season.
The additions they made this offseason, including defensive ends Mario Addison, Jerry Hughes and Rasheem Green, were supposed to bolster a defensive front to disrupt the quarterback much more than in previous years.
They played together in Buffalo the previous two seasons, combining for 18.5 sacks during their time with the Bills.
Addison returned from short-term injured-reserve this week after suffering a thigh injury during the final preseason game.
Greenard said getting a healthy Addison back in the fold, can be a difference maker for the front seven.
“Rio (Mario Addison) at this point, has shown himself. We know he’s got speed, mentality, everything," Greenard said. "I think continue to just feed off that energy and what he brings to the table is going to help all of us as a unit in the room.”
Hughes, a 13-year veteran, has shown he’s definitely got some juice left in the tank compiling four sacks, a forced fumble and an interception through the first four weeks.
While Addison could help bolster a pass rush, the numbers say they’ve already made slight improvements in disrupting the quarterback this season.
They’ve actually allowed the 10th lowest passer rating against, and have pressured the quarterback the 12th most and hurried them seventh most through four weeks.
Yet, their run defense has been a real problem this season, allowing 688 yards on the ground thus far.
That’s the second-most allowed in the league, behind only the Chicago Bears.
The Texans could get better in the coming weeks against the run with healthy bodies returning from IR like Addison and rookie linebacker Christian Harris.
Grugier-Hill believes they have the right pieces in place to improve miscues and that fixing their trust issues schematically is an easy fix.
“No. I don’t think it’s hard. It’s normal. In football, everyone wants to make plays. Everyone’s trying to make plays,” Grugier-Hill said. “Sometimes I feel like, myself included, you try to make a play and it’s actually putting the defense in a harder position, instead of just doing what you’re supposed to do in the call.”
The Texans inability thus far, to stay disciplined and stay focused on their assignment after opposing offenses pre-snap motions or “eye-candy” as Texans cornerback coach Dino Vasso calls it, has been an issue.
Meanwhile, the Texans are preparing for a week five divisional showdown with the Jacksonville Jaguars. They’re an above average rushing team, averaging 4.0 yards per carry between James Robinson and Travis Etienne Jr. but have put the ball on the ground five times already.
That could bode well for a Texans team that knows they need to create as many takeaways as possible to stay in ballgames until the offense improves.
While the Texans have had plenty of opportunities to capitalize on mistakes of their opponents this season but have routinely fallen short, Grugier-Hill said there’s no other option but to keep working to improve.
“I genuinely think that a lot of it is just we’ve got to get better,” Grugier-Hill said. “There’s nothing really anything else I can say other than we can just continue, because we can go in two different directions here. We can be like ‘oh screw it. This is going to be bad’, or we can dig ourselves out of this hole. I think that’s what we have to do."
Shaun Bijani has spent the last 16 years covering the Houston sports scene for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @ShaunBijani.
Follow SportsRadio 610 on social media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube