Houston Texans Defense Greatly Improved, But It's Not #1 On Defense

Good defenses tend to allow fewer yards, but using yards allowed per game is not the best indicator. This would be like using batting average to rank an offense in baseball. Some teams face more passes late compared to others, and yards are higher on passes, even for a good defense. The 49ers, for example, rank in the top 10 in yards but not in the top 5, but are 1st in points allowed.

No doubt Houston is improved, and when we look at other indicators, they are top 5 to 10 defense this year. That improvement has them squarely as a solid contender come playoff time. Johnathan Joseph has been a huge pickup because of how much he upgraded a clear weakness, and Brian Cushing has cycled back after a dropoff in year 2 when he had to move positions. The team lost Mario Williams, but is still generating pressure, though they have yet to face a great offense since he was injured. No one player has a huge sack total, but the team has 24 on the season, with Antonio Smith, Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin leading the way among the active players.

Houston is 3rd, ahead on percentage points of Baltimore in net yards per pass. They are 3rd in points per game allowed, behind only Baltimore and San Francisco. Over the last three weeks, they have allowed fewer than 175 total yards and 15 first downs in each game, against the murderer’s row of Tennessee, Jacksonville and Cleveland.

We know that they can beat up on bad offenses, which is definitely something they could not do last year, when no lead was safe. They did allow 454 yards and 40 points to the Saints, easily the best offense they have faced (which is why I’m skeptical of the Bengals defensive numbers, since they have had none of those games). The defensive numbers are aided by the opponents, and it’s probably no coincidence that the top 5 teams by the league’s official yardage per game measure all play in the AFC North and South and thus play a lot of the same opponents.

While I’m skeptical that they are the best defense (Baltimore for me) and think the league’s use of yards per game to make a value judgment statement about who is the best is bad, they are very good this year. If you believe in such things, they are the most balanced team among the potential playoff participants, as we have seen a mix of great offenses/questionable defenses with powerful defenses/inconsistent offenses among the others. With the remaining schedule, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Houston lurk around and grab a first round bye, as the other AFC teams knock each other off.

[photo via Getty]