Houston Texans: Pass defense shows promise in win over Colts
The Houston Texans took back the lead in the AFC South by beating the Colts but, more importantly, their pass defense showed great improvement.
Facing a critical situation for their playoff hopes, the Houston Texans delivered on Thursday Night Football against the Indianapolis Colts. On the back of a tremendous performance from DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller V, Houston picked up the 20-17 win over Indianapolis in Week 12 to take the AFC South lead.
The win didn’t come without controversy, though. On the Texans’ final drive of the game where they were ultimately able to run out the clock, Deshaun Watson kept the ball and seemingly had it jarred loose. However, since the play was ruled dead with no fumble and there was no clear recovery, no review could overturn the play.
Regardless of that, the Texans now move to 7-4 on the year and have the lead in the race to the postseason. It’s no certainty given the inconsistency of the AFC South this season but they’re the clear favorites at this point.
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If there was one major concern about Houston entering this matchup with Indianapolis though, it was their pass defense. In the first meeting between the Texans and Colts, Jacoby Brissett lit up the Houston secondary for 326 yards and four touchdowns. That narrative changed on Thursday night.
Houston almost entirely shut down Brissett and the Indy passing attack. The quarterback finished going just 16-of-25 for 129 yards and no touchdowns. Even more impressive, the Colts wide receivers were virtual non-factors as they accounted for 57 receiving yards on the day — even with an albeit banged-up T.Y. Hilton back in the lineup on limited snaps.
The Texans have been aggressive in trying to improve their secondary this season, adding Gareon Conley in a trade with the Raiders and then landing Vernon Hargreaves III off of waivers following his release from the Buccaneers. Though both players have been disappointing in their brief careers, acquiring former first-round picks is a worthwhile crapshoot to try and improve an ailing unit.
And it’s clear that much of the credit is due to that secondary for their performance on Thursday. With J.J. Watt out of the lineup, Houston’s pass rush has been severely limited, which was again the case against the Colts strong offensive line. Thus, the Texans defensive backs had to step up in coverage and they delivered.
Are the Texans going to be fortunate enough to face a lacking group of receivers that largely rely on one guy who wasn’t 100 percent in every game? Of course not. However, this pass defense has been burned by units just as suspect already this season. That they were able to hold their own in primetime speaks to the improvements this group has made.
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We know how dangerous Watson and the Texans offense can be. But if they’re going to be a serious playoff contender, the defense has to be better than it was through the first 11 weeks. And if they can play to the level that they did on Thursday night, this Houston club becomes a much more dangerous group.