Houston Texans: Why Christian Covington should start right away

The Houston Texans took part in one of their best performances, if not the best, in franchise history, here’s why the defense would be even better if they start defensive end Christian Covington.

The Houston Texans did it — they made history by not only scoring the most points in a game (57) but by the widest margin of victory of 43 points in their 57-14 win yesterday. Victory is sweet and there’s nobody out there on this planet that would’ve predicted such an output by the Houston Texans. It was truly something to behold as I saw groundbreaking moments unravel in front of my eyes.

Deshaun Watson was the catalyst for all of this as he has performed well since the keys to the offense were thrown to him by Tom Savage after the first half of their Week 1 match up against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I have to admit — I’ve never seen this before and we’re tremendously blessed to finally get it right with our quarterback selection. Watson is not perfect but he certainly displayed why he was the best QB available in this year’s draft. He covers up a lot of deficiencies we have such as our offensive line and lifts the team to another level with just his presence. That’s not easy for a guy that’s only 22-years-old.

But enough about the greatness of Watson, let’s talk about the defense. They’re already top-notch but they could be even better if Mike Vrabel has the guts to make the move to improve the Front 7’s production.

Effective immediately, the Houston Texans should start Christian Covington on the right side of J.J. Watt with D.J. Reader sandwiched in between both. Covington has proven time and again that he can answer the call when the bell is rung and has not disappointed all season as well as 2016 for that matter.

Joel Heath, his counterpart, has come back from injury but he hasn’t performed up to par at his position for this season, despite getting considerable snaps. In Week 1, he had 38 snaps, Week 2 (26), Week 3 (16), Week 4 (18). According to Pro Football Focus, Heath has a 48.5 grade with his performance which would certainly be well below expectations.

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He has only recorded four combined tackles — two assisted — through the season and we certainly know that he can do better. Heath was also the lowest-graded Texan last week, with a lowly-mark of a 41.5.

Now mind you, PFF has a grading system that’s roughly the same as we all had in school where a 70 is passing and a 100 is a perfect score.

You see what I mean? On the other hand, Covington snaps were 20, 14, 16, 9 in Weeks 1-4 respectively and he has an incredibly-solid 81.4 grade overall on the season thus far. So Covington is giving quality production in less time out on the field indicating how productive he can be.

He has already amassed six tackles, one forced fumble and 1.0 sacks through four games this season. But not only that but he’s usually locked-in on just about every play, doing everything he can disrupt what’s in front of him and wreak some havoc.

Just think what he could do with more playing time?

Covington played right here at Rice U and has always been one of my favorite draft picks in recent years. I’m still stunned at the steal he was out of the 6th round in 2015 and he is one of those picks that Rick Smith got right. I’ve always felt that Romeo Crennel had big input into this and it’s paying off tremendous dividends.

Next: Three points why Texans should trade Tom Savage now

So the time is now — it’s time to start Covington or we risk all of the talent oozing out him going to waste!

It’s nothing to it but do it Mike!

Go Texans.

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