The San Francisco 49ers defended home field at Levi’s Stadium and reminded the Seattle Seahawks who ran the NFC West with a 41-23 win in the NFC wild-card Saturday afternoon.
Despite being on their third starting quarterback of the season, rookie Brock Purdy appeared as though a seasoned veteran with his 131.5 passer rating. It also helped that wideout Deebo Samuel caught six passes for 133 yards and a touchdown while also carrying three times for 32.
The Texans are looking for their third coach in as many offseasons with general manager Nick Caserio running the front office. Here are four lessons the Texans need to learn from the 49ers’ win over Seattle.
Invest in the offensive line
The 49ers have a future Hall-of-Famer protecting Brock Purdy in left tackle Trent Williams, which was accentuated by the rookie signal caller taking just one sack and three quarterback hits. San Francisco used their road-grading offensive line to generate a 5.5 yards per carry.
The Texans have talent on the line already with three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, first-round guard Kenyon Green, and former 2019 first-round right tackle Tytus Howard. Houston may need to upgrade at center or guard, or they need to hire an offensive line coach that can form a cohesive unit built around those three.
Invest in the defensive line
The Seahawks were able to churn 4.2 yards per carry, but quarterback Geno Smith took three sacks and two quarterback hits. Smith also threw an interception and succumbed to a sack-fumble. Former Texans 2019 fifth-round defensive end Charles Omenihu led the way with 2.0 sacks and a forced fumble.
Houston may be changing their defensive scheme, which could affect the use of some players on the roster, such as defensive tackle Maliek Collins and defensive end Jerry Hughes. However, Jonathan Greenard has shown the ability to play as a down lineman or a standup edge rusher. The Texans need to use free agency or draft capital to bring in disruptive defensive linemen. Maybe they need to use No. 2 overall on Georgia’s Jalen Carter or Alabama’s Will Anderson and go for quarterback with their No. 12 overall pick.
Run the ball
As previously mentioned, the 49ers had a 5.5 yards per carry. Christian McCaffrey could not be contained as he carried 15 times for 119 yards.
Houston doesn’t have to turn back the clock to “three yards and a cloud of dust,” but they do need to elevate their run game. The Texans finished 31st in both yards per carry (3.7) and rushing yards per game (86.8) — all the while having rookie Dameon Pierce, who finished with 939 rushing yards through 13 games and had a 4.3 yards per carry.
Why Purdy has been successful is the run game takes a burden off his shoulders. Whoever is starting for Houston in 2023 similarly must have a run game effective enough to carry part of the load.
Coaching matters
Regardless of what happens at quarterback, the 49ers find a way to win. Kyle Shanahan has a culture in place where the players continue to fight no matter their record. San Francisco had this same resolve in 2020 after losing Jimmy Garoppolo and they clawed to a 6-10 finish. The 49ers are getting accolades for it because they are winning, but it was always there. Just ask Robert Saleh, who parlayed his defensive coordinator gig from that year into a coaching job with the New York Jets.
There are myriad of reasons why the Texans made the coaching hires they did in the past two seasons. Maybe no one wanted to waste the beginning of their career navigating the dearth of draft picks, rosters laden with veterans on short-term deals, and the cumulonimbus cloud of a disgruntled and disgraced franchise quarterback forcing his way out of the organization.
Those hardships are gone.
Houston has to find a coach who the players will rally behind, yet also has a high attention to detail. Shanahan didn’t post his first winning season until 2019, and he was actually their third coach in as many seasons when they hired him in 2017. Nevertheless the same spirit the 49ers are being lauded for today was present during those first two difficult seasons. The Texans must find a coach such as that to get out of the morass of rebuilding.
