Houston Texans: Running game responsible for improved pass protection

Over the last several weeks, the Houston Texans pass protection has been much better. A big reason for that is the running game, let’s examine.

The Houston Texans started off the 2018-19 season as the NFL’s coldest team. They started 0-3 and even though the team kept the games close, this team looked like a shell of the peak football that was on display during Deshaun Watson‘s healthy games last year.

Since then, the Texans have fixed the little things and transformed themselves from the coldest team in the NFL to the hottest team in the NFL. They have ripped off seven wins in a row, tying the 1925 Giants for the only teams to go from 0-3 to 7-3. On Monday night, they’ll look to be the first team to go from 0-3 to 8-3.

What this Texans team has done is simply incredible, to turn a season around as they have is rare and largely unheard of. Turnarounds like this don’t happen by accident and the Texans have done lots of things in order to make it happen.

Must Read. Why the Watson-Hopkins connection is so deadly and special. light

At the beginning of the season, the Houston Texans pass rush and run defense was elite. However, their pass coverage was behind the rest of the defense due to lots of new faces, changes, and injuries. They have since gotten healthier and worked out the kinks and have worked out their struggles.

On the offensive side of the ball, Watson worked through his layers of rust and got his swagger back. His renewed confidence was on obvious display against Washington this past weekend especially on his touchdown toss to DeAndre Hopkins in the red zone.

One of the things that has allowed Watson to regain his confidence and swagger and get comfortable in the pocket is an improved pass protection. The past three weeks, the Houston Texans pass blocking grade has climbed to new heights, producing three of their top four pass blocking performances of the season.

This is incredibly important as the past two weeks, Watson has been beyond elite from a clean pocket. His passer rating with a clean pocket has been 155.9 compared to a still good 109.5 pass rating when under pressure. He’s also managed a 75% completion percentage and 7 touchdowns during that time span.

Watson had little to no time in the pocket early on in the season and having to get rid of the ball almost immediately. The Texans were also playing from behind a lot and were just relying on their passing game a lot more than their run game.

Recently, the Houston Texans have upped what they’ve done in the run game. The past four weeks, they ran the ball on 51.6%, 57.4%, 45.2%, and 46.1% of their offensive snaps. Coincidentally, they’ve rushed for an average of 123.5 yards per game during that stretch.

It is no coincidence that in those same four weeks, the Texans pass protection has increased dramatically. The Texans passing offense, as well as the pressures allowed, have improved drastically. Every starter, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), along the offensive line had an above average grade or better the past few weeks.

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The pass protection has definitely improved as the season has gone along, some of it is natural improvement by a unit that has played a lot together this season. But, a lot of the credit needs to go to the rushing game and the play calling Bill O’Brien has pieced together. It is, again, no coincidence that these improvements in pass protection have coincided with an improved rushing attack.

The Houston Texans will be looking to continue this trend against a pretty good Titans defense. The Titans have a decent but not great run defense and that goes for the pass rush and coverage as well. If the Texans are able to establish their running game against the Titans, they should have no issues working their entire offense and continuing their win streak another week.

Next. Three reasons why the Texans are legitimate contenders. dark

This season, the Houston Texans offense has 364.2 yards per game for the entire season. They have also averaged just under 24 points a game led by Watson and Hopkins. The defense is elite and if the offense can continue to improve, the Texans will be one hard team to stop.

For more grades, advanced statistics and more at Pro Football Focus, subscribe to PFF’s EDGE or ELITE subscriptions at ProFootballFocus.com.

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