HOUSTON – Derek Stingley Jr. lined up across from Seattle Seahawks star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba just four times Monday night.
That was his coverage assignment, and the Texans All-Pro cornerback emphasized he always does what he’s coached to do, not simply what he feels like doing.
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Although Texans coach DeMeco Ryans stated that the Texans wanted to play aggressive, tight coverage against the leading wide receiver in the NFL, that wasn’t what they wound up doing as far as not deploying press coverage at the line against Smith-Njigba.
Ryans never did, as usual, though, specifically indicate what the defensive game plan would be against an elite receiver for obvious gamesmanship purposes. The logical conclusion was drawn by many, though, that Stingley would be paired opposite JSN much more frequently and in press coverage. That ultimately wasn’t what transpired, though. Stingley wasn’t asked to shadow Smith-Njigba, so he didn’t as he carried out his assignments.
“I feel like any corner likes to be at the line, but I’ll never do nothing outside of what the play call is,” Stingley said. “So. the play call tells me to be off, I’m gonna be off."
Smith-Njigba dominated the Texans in a 27-19 victory with eight receptions for 123 yards and one touchdown on 14 targets. Stingley, though, wasn’t culpable for all of that productivity. He allowed three catches for 49 yards and one score when he slipped in single coverage against Smith-Njigba on an 11-yard touchdown. He also intercepted a pass and stiff-armed Smith-Njigba’s helmet off, and was flagged for a personal foul for unnecessary roughness.
“Our game plan was to, as I stated earlier in the week, make sure we are aggressive, make sure we’re getting hands on and playing them tight and sticky,” Ryans said. “That was our game plan.”
Overall, Stingley allowed four catches for 76 yards on seven targets for one touchdown and four first downs, according to Pro Football Focus analytics. Meanwhile, cornerback Kamari Lassiter was covering Smith-Njigba six times and allowed three catches for 49 yards and two first downs.
Why not utilize Stingley differently? In the past, including a Monday night game this season, he shut down Tampa Bay Buccaneers future Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans for three catches and 36 yards on nine targets or Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill last season when he had two interceptions of Tua Tagovailoa and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Heading into Monday night’s game, opponents had completed just 36 percent of their throws against Stingley in press coverage, per Next Gen Stats. Last season, Stingley allowed a passer rating of 14.0 in press coverage for the best in the NFL.
Instead, the Texans played off coverage against JSN.
For the season, Stingley has allowed 14 catches for 227 yards on 29 targets with one score and two interceptions with five passes defensed.
“I can’t go out there and do my own thing,” Stingley said. “So, I’ve never done that. That’s not who I am.”
Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke was asked about how the defense allocated its resources against the Seahawks’ star player.
This week, the focus is on containing San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey.
“We put a plan in in terms of how we want to approach certain things,” Burke said. “Sometimes you can do that, sometimes you can’t. There’s different techniques that we deploy, sort of call to call and things like that. So, I think that’s just collectively as we are approaching a player like that.
“Again, this week a player like ‘CMC’ and how we’re having to handle those things, then the attention to detail of how we’re playing techniques and what we’re asking everyone to do, it’s not just one player. We’ve got to deploy those. We didn’t do enough. We made some big plays last week, but we didn’t do enough in some of the other areas to win that game.”
What’s next for the Texans?
They’re 2-4 heading into a Sunday home game against the 49ers.
“We just gotta communicate, at least for the defense,” Stingley said. “Communicate, go out there and do what we know we’re capable of. And whatever we’re running, just make sure we’re doing what we gotta do.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com