Houston Texans: Injuries put pressure on Jadeveon Clowney
The Houston Texans lost both JJ Watt and Whitney Mercilus for the season in Week 5, which will put the pressure on Jadeveon Clowney to step up.
In truth, it was likely unrealistic to expect the Houston Texans to be a match for the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 5. Even with the loss of Eric Berry in Week 1, the Chiefs have proven to be one of the best teams in the league by a pretty wide margin. They are balanced, able to beat teams in any way on both sides of the ball. Thus, the loss for Houston wasn’t ground-breaking.
However, what is earth-shattering is the loss that the Texans suffered en route to to their defeat. Almost immediately on Sunday night, they watched highly talented edge rusher Whitney Mercilus go down with an injury. James Palmer of NFL Network later reported that he suffered a torn pectoral muscle and will be out for the season. He wasn’t the only key defensive piece to go down, though.
JJ Watt also suffered a knee injury that clearly left that perennial All-Pro in a ton of pain as he left the game and was taken to the locker room. He was then seen on crutches loading into an ambulance on the broadcast. They reported on the broadcast that he suffered a tibial plateau fracture in his knee. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport (among others), this will end his 2017 season.
Anytime that a team loses two pieces as talented and pivotal as those, it’s not good for that club. However, this may be even more detrimental to the Texans than it would be for other rosters.
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One thing that Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth noted on Sunday Night Football was that the Houston defense counts on those guys so much in their pass rush that they don’t have a great deal of depth behind them. That’s something that’s backed up looking at the performance of others, too.
According to Pro Football Focus Edge, only one other Texans edge defender has graded over 50 on the season in pass rushing scenarios. For reference, anything below 70 is considered below average. And on the interior, Houston does have better depth with D.J. Reader and Christian Covington, but they don’t have near the impact of Watt.
Subsequently, the spotlight is about to narrow in on Jadeveon Clowney, the one other pass rusher who isn’t considered below average off the edge in Houston. With Watt missing most of last season as well, Clowney had a breakout year where he was one of the best edge defenders in football.
With that said, the 2014 first-overall pick hasn’t been at that level this season. He’s already halfway to his sack total from last season (three in five games, six in 2016), but he’s not been the consistent disruption off the edge that he was a year ago. Now that Watt and Mercilus are out, however, he has to be that, or the Texans could be in trouble.
The emergence of Deshaun Watson has been impressive, without question. However, you can’t dismiss the effect that being backed by a great defense has had on him. When your defense is able to make plays, that takes a ton of pressure off of a rookie quarterback. Due to the injuries on Sunday night, there is warranted concern that the defense won’t be able to make the same amount of plays. So not only do opposing offenses have an easier day at the office, but Watson and the offense has a more difficult one.
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Subsequently, Clowney has to step up in this moment and play like a No. 1 pick. He simply needs to wreak havoc in every facet of the game, but particularly in the pass rush. If he’s unable to do so, we could see the Texans falter over their remaining 11 games.