The blog got together to discuss the woes and ails of the Texans offensive and defensive front lines.
Another close victory. It’s an early theme in the DeMeco Ryans era… one that’s getting old, quickly. The most impactful theme in this young season is penalties on the offensive line and a leaky defensive line. The defense has received less of the public scorn but are rated the 23rd best defense in the NFL according to PFF.
Tunsil has been the main focus of the criticism, being sighted for 11 penalties. Tunsil leads the league in penalties with three more than any other player in the league.
This brings us to the question of the week for the writers at Battle Red blog, which I ask the writers to diagnose what they’re seeing ailing the offensive and defensive fronts for the Houston Texans.
Texans move to 3-1 but the offense still looked sluggish. What needs to change up front?
Vballretired:
Laremy Tunsil needs a wake-up call. I’m not sure how you can legally punish him under CBA rules but something needs to be done. He seems to be motivated by money so if rules weren’t an object I’d fine him 100K for every flag beyond one courtesy flag per game. Sadly, you can’t do that. The best you can do is get the backups ready and start benching guys that can’t seem to avoid this. Tunsil killed two second half drives on his own. This game had no business being this close and that’s true of all three wins. I’m expecting a beat down this week and if/when that happens a come to Jesus meeting will be necessary.
L4blitzer:
Granted, it is still early in the season, but the offensive line hasn’t had the best of starts. They just have to get their stuff together. Dealing with stunting Defensive Lineman is a priority, given how that has terrorized the Texans’ attack. The running game without Joe Mixon appears anemic, but the line isn’t getting the push it did in Week 1. They at least kept CJ Stroud more upright, as he only took two sacks, but there were times Stroud had to do some nifty dancing to escape. Oh, and then you have the whole penalty thing. The Minnesota game was the nadir of the O-line where penalties were concerned, but even against Jacksonville, they had some critical pre-snap penalties and needlessly holding calls that hamstrung the offense. Winning in the NFL against the opponent is tough. It is tougher when you play against the opponent and yourself.
OTs with the lowest pressure rates allowed heading into Week 5
1. Zach Tom – 1.5%
2. Laremy Tunsil – 1.8%
3. Tristan Wirfs – 2.6%
4. Taylor Moton – 2.7%
5. Penei Sewell – 3.5%
6. Ronnie Stanley – 3.2%
7. Spencer Brown – 3.3%
8. Bernhard Raimann – 3.5%
9. Trevor Penning -… https://t.co/cMZe3hstZN pic.twitter.com/vaw6MrIPpu— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) October 2, 2024
Kenneth L.:
Laremy Tunsil needs to be benched. It’s unacceptable. However, since it’s not only been a Tunsil issue, that indicates it falls on QB C.J. Stroud to improve his pre-snap coordination with the offensive line and fine tune the timing. It’s the woes of a second year quarterback. We forget sometimes he’s still a youngling and has years of growth to go through. The fanbase has rushed certain aspects of his development and overlooked others. This is a systemic problem and one that needs to improve quickly for the offense to take the next step. The Bills, Lions, Packers, Chiefs, and Ravens will crush us for making this many mistakes.
On defense, this front seven doesn’t look consistent. One play they completely blow up the pocket, the next they are being gashed. Sure, good teams are going to win up front every now and then, but the front office has invested too much into this defense for it to be as porous. While the yards allowed has been great, ranking fourth in passing yards allowed and 13th in rushing yards allowed, they are losing the turnover battle. The lack of quality field position has hurt both sides of the ball.
All in all, there’s room for improvement that’s to be sure. However, this improvement needs to be fairly expedited to continue leading the AFC South.
Patrick.H:
On defense, Christian Harris can’t come back soon enough. To’oTo’o and Al-Shaair have done okay in his absence but I feel like missing the quarterback of the defense is not doing that unit any favors. On offense, the line has left a lot, A LOT, to be desired. They’re not 2002 bad but it sure seems like Stroud has been running for his life a lot more than last year. Overall, and I hate to keep harping on this but it’s kind of a big deal, the penalties are simply out of control. I don’t know if it’s from a lack of discipline or just trying to learn the new rules that got added in the offseason. Tunsil is especially bad about these penalties but if he were the only one getting them, this would be an easier fix. But nobody is innocent about the frequency of these flags. Except maybe Jon Weeks.