The Houston Texans put the league on notice Saturday.
They blew out the red-hot Cleveland Browns, 45-14, in the AFC wild card round in a performance where they dominated in every phase of the game. Against an opponent that had beat them by multiple touchdowns on Christmas Eve, Houston seemingly had all the answers and adjustments needed on Saturday.
Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud dazzled with 274 passing yards and three touchdowns. The youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game will certainly carry most of the attention moving forward in Texans coverage. However, he wasn’t the biggest takeaway from the contest.
It was head coach DeMeco Ryans and his defense taking a decisive step forward.
Ryans came to Houston after winning the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award with the San Francisco 49ers. A fantastic former player, he was considered one of the best defensive minds in the sport and someone who could relate well to players. It wasn’t just that San Francisco had talented defenders, they had all somehow taken a leap forward playing under Ryans after the departure of Robert Saleh to be the head coach of the New York Jets.
One of the biggest transformations under Ryans in San Francisco was the emergence of Fred Warner as the league’s most valuable middle linebacker. He not only was a suffocating force in run support, but his versatility in coverage allowed the 49ers to scheme up impossible blitzes and bizarre coverage combinations to confuse quarterbacks.
DeMeco Ryans revolutionized the 49ers defense after Saleh's departure when he leaned into his best talent, Fred Warner, to be a stud linebacker and change their schematic equations.
We saw the first step of how he'll do that in Houston with Derek Stingley last night #WeAreTexans pic.twitter.com/obPDrDTPUd
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) January 14, 2024
Ryans recognized where on his roster he had 0.1% percentile talent and capitalized on that portion of the equation. Against the Browns, he took his first step towards deploying cornerback Derek Stingley with the same emphasis.
Stingley has had a breakout season in 2023. He had 39 total tackles, 13 passes defended and five interceptions across 11 games and ended the season on a strong note, where he was awarded AFC Defensive Player of the Month for December/January. To this point, Ryans had not necessarily highlighted his talent in the same way he praised him at the podium.
Houston’s defensive scheme had largely relied on cornerbacks playing “sides,” where one player is predominantly the right corner and the other plays the left. This allows players, especially the less talented corners he’d worked with San Francisco, to better practice using the sideline as an additional defender to assist. Arriving in Houston, this had stayed consistent with Steven Nelson playing 98% of his snaps at the right cornerback and Derek Stingley playing 98% of his snaps at the left cornerback.
Derek Stingley Jr. aligned across from Amari Cooper on 35 of 42 routes (83.3%) before the Texans sent in their backups.
Stingley allowed just 1 reception for -6 yards on 3 targets as the nearest defender, including 2 tight windows.#CLEvsHOU | #WeAreTexans https://t.co/QO4LzG3hnm pic.twitter.com/2i67EBzfr8
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 14, 2024
It’s possible that Ryans recognized they needed to change after wide receiver Amari Cooper torched them for multiple touchdowns and over 200 yards during the first contest. It’s also possible they’d been waiting for a playoff situation to unveil their new wrinkle. Regardless, it finally happened on Saturday.
Stingley traveled with Amari Cooper all night — and it wasn’t a pleasant experience for the Browns’ offense.
Texans CB Derek Stingley has been matched up with Amari Cooper for 80% of quarterback Joe Flacco's dropbacks, and Cooper doesn't have a single catch while being guarded by Stingley so far.
— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) January 13, 2024
Stingley traveled with Cooper on 83.3% of his snaps for the entire contest. Cooper was targeted just once and had no catches on all of those attempts. He averaged a mere 0.7 yards of separation against Stingley on those routes. The downstream effects were extremely disruptive.
Other receivers truly struggled to separate, especially into the second half. Joe Flacco was forced to progress from his first read to second and checkdown options. It got the defense off the field when they threw short and, most importantly, allowed the defensive line to be disruptive when he held on too long.
Houston’s defensive line group had 25 total pressures, including seven from Will Anderson Jr. and six from Derek Barnett. It led to 4.0 sacks and one directly led to a pick-six when Flacco was hit late as he launched a ball right into the hands of a waiting Steven Nelson.
Pretty easy to see the Cleveland offense is just in hell with how frequently non-Amari Cooper receivers are seeing targets this half.
DeMeco Ryans and his whole staff have gone to work #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) January 13, 2024
Forced to work to more secondary options, another pick-six came on the next drive as he fired to the tight end without processing a waiting linebacker in Christian Harris. Cleveland’s entire offensive rhythm was disrupted without Cooper as the focal point of the offense and ample bodies to work on David Njoku.
It’s a terrifying development for the remaining AFC playoff field. Houston’s defense has a new trick to both enhance the quality of their pass coverage and also to make their defensive line more effective. This comes at a time when both Anderson and Jonathan Greenard are getting healthier and healthier.
Kansas City and Baltimore will both have more dynamic pass catching options. However, their confidence will certainly be decreased from how they may have felt a week ago.
The path of Ryans’ defense and how he continues to use his elite players like Stingley and Anderson is transforming. It will certainly yield a monster in the future, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be terrifying now in the present.
