HOUSTON – The chase is relentless, and the aggressive intent is not uncertain. The ferocity and sheer hunger of the Texans’ top-ranked defense is undeniable and frequently unstoppable.
When the Texans apply technique, discipline and skill with the obvious talent dotted across their personnel headlined by star bookends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, it’s akin to a wolfpack mentality.
Recommended Videos
The Texans are on the hunt, yes, but it’s an unselfish one not consumed by statistical milestones. As impressive as the Texans’ defense has been in terms of numbers as the NFL’s elite unit in terms of fewest points and fewest yards allowed per game, they have maintained a singular, next-play, next-game mentality. If everyone runs to the football in a coordinated fashion, there’s no green space for the offense to operate.
“It’s very important,” Anderson Jr. said. “It’s everybody just being this one hope. We all want to see each other eat. When you have a bunch of dogs, everybody got to get a piece. You’re chasing a gazelle, everybody in the pack got to eat. You can’t leave one starving. So, for us, it’s like everybody got to get a piece of that gazelle anytime we’re out there on the field.”
The Texans’ stingy defense, running with a scalded-dog, get-after-it approach and a scheme manufactured by former Pro Bowl linebacker and Defensive Rookie of the Year award winner DeMeco Ryans, is allowing just 16.3 points per game and 258.1 yards per game. Hunter and Anderson are in a race to meet at the quarterback, combining for 17 sacks as arguably the top pass rushing tandem in the NFL with a combined 29 quarterback hits and 21 tackles for losses.
All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. has delivered incredible interceptions with three overall, and cornerback Kamari Lassiter has been extremely sticky with two interceptions of his own. The Texans have allowed the 31st-least completion percentage, 57.6 percent, to opposing quarterbacks and are tied for third in the NFL with 10 interceptions. They’re usually in the right spots and get heady adjustments from middle linebacker and team captain Azeez Al-Shaair.
“I feel like we have the No. 1 defense because we don’t care about having a No. 1 defense,” Lassiter told KPRC 2. “I feel like that’s probably the main reason. We go out here and we work like we’re not the No. 1 defense. Whenever we go into this meeting, we’re about to go over all the things that just went wrong. It’s not going to be too many highlights. It’s going to be, ‘Oh, what happened on this play?’
“It’s not caring about being the best in the league. I feel like that’s what’s really allowed us to just go out there and play. We just go out there and play with the same mentality every game, and we try to get it out the mud. It’s player-led. We already have the same mindset of, ‘Oh, we want to be the greatest.’”
That has served an improving 5-5 squad well, albeit a lopsided roster in terms of strength and resources on the defensive side of the football. And they’ll try to keep winning and boost their playoff outlook Thursday night against a formidable opponent led by star quarterback Josh Allen, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player.
A year ago, they frustrated him endlessly into one of the worst performances of a storied career. Now, they’ll try to duplicate that suffocating showing in a game that could define the Texans’ season and lift them to their first winning record of the year on the heels of a winless start through the opening three games.
Allen was stymied completely last year in an October last-second loss to the Texans at NRG Stadium. He completed a career-low 9 of 30 passes (30 percent) for 131 yards against the Texans last season. He was 1 for 14 when pressured and endured a 45.7 pressure rate, per Next Gen Stats. He went 1 for 11 passing against man coverage.
Allen engineered a 44-32 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers passing for three touchdowns and running for three touchdowns. He became the first player in NFL history to do that twice in his career.
“We understand Josh is one of the most dynamic quarterbacks when it comes to buying time and being able to escape the rush,” Ryans said. “He’s a big, physical guy. He can ward off defenders and he can throw the ball as far as he needs to throw it. He has such an awesome arm talent, smart player, knows how to buy time.
“The Bills are a really, really good team. They’re always a contender. Play great defense, of course they have a great quarterback in Josh Allen, who can make any type of play you need him to make.”
Allen had three consecutive incompletions on the Bills’ final possession against the Texans last season. The Texans earned a 23-20 win on a last-second field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn.
“I got beat up that game, didn’t play well at all,” Allen said. “Watching that film, there’s a lot of good stuff to watch from that film but it’s hard to watch. I played pretty badly. So yeah, hopefully we can go out there and play a little bit better and move the ball a little better. We’re gonna have our hands full.”
Allen is riding a season-long hot streak.
He has passed for 2,456 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s on pace for 4,175 yards and 31 touchdowns.
He leads the Bills with 10 touchdown runs, many of them in the red zone, to pair well with standout running back James Cook, who has gained 968 rushing yards and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.
“MVP, he’s a playmaker,” Anderson said of Allen. “We have a ton of respect for him. For us, I think it’s just everybody being on the same page, especially us up front. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, but this is what the league is for. This is what these moments are for, Thursday night game, in front of the whole world, going against a really great team. How else would you want it?”
The Texans have won consecutive games with backup quarterback Davis “Money” Mills set to start his third game in a row with starting quarterback C.J. Stroud still in the NFL concussion protocol and not set to return to play until next week against the Indianapolis Colts.
Although the Texans have gone 2-5 against teams with winning records this season and have four more games against opponents with winning marks, their playoff hopes are very much alive.
Not that they’re focused on scoreboard watching and playoff scenarios. They know they just have to keep winning. Do that and the playoff hopes take care of themselves for the two-time defending AFC South champions despite a terrible start to the season while adjusting to a new playbook, a new offensive coordinator in Nick Caley and an overhauled offensive line after trading five-time Pro Bowl left tackle during the offseason.
“All that stuff, it doesn’t matter,” Ryans said. “Honestly, when the ball is snapped, nobody’s thinking about, ‘We’re going to play harder because of the standings. If you’re playing here in Houston, I expect you to play hard no matter when we’re playing, whether it’s preseason or it’s the playoffs. It should look exactly the same when you turn the tape on. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, where we’re playing. It should always look the same.”
There’s confidence in the defense, and in Mills after he led them to victories over the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans with fourth-quarter comebacks.
“Davis is doing his job,” Ryans said. “I know it gets heightened with the quarterback position, but it’s no different than any other position. You’ve got to go out, you’ve got to execute the fundamentals, the details of your job the right way. That’s what he’s done. That’s all we’re asking him to do.”
The major matchup, though, the headliner, is the Texans’ defense against Allen.
Allen is a big, strong quarterback at 6-foot-5, 237 pounds with multidimensional skills.
He has passed for 28,890 career yards and 213 touchdowns and rushed for 4,493 yards and 75 touchdowns.
The Texans counter with a defense ranked first with a 33.0 three-and-out percentage that’s tied for first in touchdown to interception ratio, 10:10 and has two defensive touchdowns.
Allen’s ability to go off-script and break patterns is tough to stop.
“It’s not just him buying time, I think schematically they’ve done a good job of their receivers being tied into when he scrambles where they’re going,” Ryans said. “It’s not just backyard ball. It’s very coordinated in what they do and where they are. So, defensively, for our guys, you have to keep rushing, you have to keep covering.
“However long it takes, you got to keep going. We know it’s going to be extended plays, he’s going to buy time no matter what you do. You just have to be able to close it out by the defensive line. If not, then if he puts the ball up, we expect our secondary guys to close it out and go up and make a play.”
Allen has completed a career-high 69.6 percent of his throws for a 105.6 passer rating.
He is hitting on all cylinders from a variety of angles. He’s a tough stop, and a fun watch.
He is tied with Cam Newton for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in NFL history.
“Josh Allen is a Hall of Fame quarterback, extends play, can make every throw, can run, he can do it all,” Lassiter said. “Just preparing for him, you have to be on the details of every play. You have to make sure that you’re on the details after the play. After the play call, whatever the play is, he’s going to extend that play as well, so being able to have that extra effort."
The Texans have been vulnerable this season against scrambling quarterbacks, including crushing breakdowns in failing to contain Baker Mayfield, Bo Nix, Trevor Lawrence and Cam Ward.
“We allowed the quarterback to escape the pocket again,” Ryans said. “We have to do a better job of not allowing them to be in that position.”
The key to winning appears to be in stopping, or at least containing Allen.
They did it a year ago. Now, they’re tasked with slowing him down again.
“Make him uncomfortable, get him off his spot, mess his vision up a little bit,” Texans defensive tackle Tim Settle Jr. said. “Just being in his face, swarming him, just being within arm’s reach. When he feels pressure, I feel like he still can make plays, but I feel like that’s when we can make plays off of him. Just as much as successes he’s had doing that, we’ve seen opportunities for takeaways and he also hurt his team doing stuff like that, too.
“So it’s just all about just being around him, just making him uncomfortable the whole game, in the run game, pass game, how we tackle him, how we just be around him, just making sure he’s uncomfortable the whole game.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com