Houston Defense: Best We've Played?

[mrblitz]

Is Houston's defense the best defensive unit we've faced?

Watt looks like the best D-lineman in the league.

It seemed like - until they lost Cushing - they were pretty much shutting us down. Maybe losing Cushing was the key.

For the first 40 minutes of game time, it looked like a sea of dark blue just flooding through our pass protection. From the looks of it they've got several good players.

 

[Joey13091]

I was watching Carp pretty closely. He blew it on many plays and let his man fly by him.

 

[mrblitz]

The amount of defensive colors in our backfield reminded me of the Huskies' defense in '84 or 91'; or the Bears in '85.

 

[Hasselbeck]

I was watching Carp pretty closely. He blew it on many plays and let his man fly by him.

Carp was being abused. I was surprised by that. Bowie actually played a lot better than I figured he would, and Lemuel did ok too.

But Carp.. yeesh.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Best overall defense, but I think Carolina's front 7 is even better. Hard to say.

 

[DavidSeven]

Houston is currently the #1 team in the league in total defense (YPG) through Week 4, so I would say yes. They've played good teams through those first four games, too.

 

[Jazzhawk]

Ya, against us, the 49ers D were pretenders. but this Texans D...money. Probably the 3 starters that were out could have handled things a little better, but still top, to bottom, best indeed.

there was a notable drop off in the overall performance of the Texans D once Cushing went out and thankfully, we were able to capitalize on it. Not trying to take credit, but I mentioned this in the Gameday forum in my 'positivity' thread.

 

[Rainger]

Absolutely. Texans were ranked the 2nd best D in the NFL before us going into this game.

 

[Hasselbeck]

J.J. Watt is unbelievable though. Total freak of nature. Can you imagine our defense with someone like that?

Actually nevermind.. that wouldn't be fair to the NFL.

 

[CaptainSkybeard]

Those guys were throwing our line around like they were kids.

I think taking about the d-line only probably the best we will face.

Defense as a whole, SF might be better... But it's close...

 

[OrFan]

Yes. They made the SF defense look pathetic in my opinion. They were fast, aggressive, and had one heck of a pass rush. Not just their front end, but the back end as well. I was surprised how fast and physical their db's were.

 

[imnKOgnito]

Am I correct in surmising that Houston took the #1 Defensive ranking from us while also losing to us?

 

[sutz]

Am I correct in surmising that Houston took the #1 Defensive ranking from us while also losing to us?

If you're talking about the one based just on yards, probably yes. :laugh:

I'm not sure how the points ranking will be affected.

 

[Happypuppy]

They were the best defense from D line to backfield, IMO. The corners played very well and it was near blanket coverage.

 

[AROS]

Thank God that is the best defense we will likely see the rest of the year. They are crazy good.

 

[falcongoggles]

While I don't think we will see a better defense, I can't wait for us to crown some other random team's defense world beaters after our O-line (even with the pieces together) struggles.

 

[ivotuk]

They are pretty damn good.

Houston #1 in passing defense with 141 ypg, the next closest is New Orleans with 184. Seattle is #5 with 191.

Houston is #1 in total ypg with 254, the next closest is the Jets with 283 and Seattle is not in the top 5.

Houston doesn't look so good in rushing ypg giving up 113. Denver is #1 with 74 rushing ypg allowed. Seattle is #109 followed closely by SF with 109.2

But imho, the most important defensive stat is ppg. KC is #1 with 10.2 and Seattle is #2 at 11.8 followed closely by Carolina at 12. Houston is giving up 26.2, but I'm not sure that is all on the defense as Matt Chub is responsible for 21 of those points.

I find it interesting that the Colts round out #5 in ppg allowed with a miserly 12.8.

 

[ivotuk]

One note on the Denver Defense only giving up 74 rushing yards per game, teams are always playing catch up so they rarely run the ball.