The Houston Texans achieved a status on defense that Mike Tomlin erroneously predicted for his Pittsburgh Steelers unit in the summer.
Historic.
When the Steelers meet the Texans on Monday night at Acrisure Stadium in the AFC Wild-Card round, it will be the visiting team bringing a record-setting defensive unit into the playoff matchup and not the one that has the NFL’s highest payroll.
While the Steelers slogged to a No. 26 ranking in total defense at the end of the season, finishing next-to-last among 16 AFC teams, the Texans had the NFL’s stingiest defensive unit. They allowed the fewest yards per game, at 277.2, and they gave up 17.4 points per game to rank second among the league’s 32 teams.
And from a historical perspective, what the Texans accomplished in terms of total yards and points allowed on defense represented the best numbers in franchise history.
“They just got a kick-butt unit,” Tomlin said. “They do.”
With their defense leading the way, the Texans rebounded from an 0-3 start and finished with a nine-game winning streak to tie the franchise record with 12 wins this season. During that nine-game winning streak, the Texans (12-5) didn’t allow an opposing team to top 21 points in a game for seven consecutive games, that streak ending in a 38-30 victory against Indianapolis that earned Houston the conference’s No. 5 seed and a date with the No. 4-seeded Steelers (10-7).
“They’re in the top-five in rush defense and pass defense, scoring, yards, and so they have been top tier and elite in just about all areas all year with that group,” Tomlin said. “That group sets the pace for them. They play with great energy and emotion.”
The Texans defense embodies the SWARM philosophy preached by third-year coach DeMeco Ryans, who guided Houston to AFC South titles in his first two seasons and takes a 2-2 playoff record into the game against the Steelers. SWARM stands for an acronym-adjusted version of “Special Work Ethic and Relentless Mindset.”
“Do whatever it takes to get the ball, attacking the ball,” defensive end Will Anderson said last year prior to a playoff game at Kansas City. “We’ve got this saying in our D-line room: ‘Who’s gonna pop it off?’ Whoever pops it off first, that’s swarming. Like, who’s gonna make the big play?”
The result has been a turnover culture that Tomlin can appreciate. The Texans ranked third in the NFL with 29 takeaways this year, including 19 interceptions. The Texans had two more takeaways than the Steelers, and they finished second in the league with a plus-17 takeaway/giveaway differential that also established another franchise record. The Steelers finished plus-12.
“Our mindset never changes,” said Ryans, a former defensive coordinator before he was hired to coach the Texans in 2023. “We don’t turn it up because we’re in the playoffs. We continue to grind it out, put the work in, do what we have to do to practice really well throughout the week. No matter who our opponent is, we’ve got to have a great week of practice, and that shows up whenever the game comes. How we work throughout the week, it will show up then. Our process and mindset doesn’t change.”
The Texans also boast arguably the NFL’s best pass-rushing duo in Anderson, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2023 draft, and Danielle Hunter, who is in his second season in Houston after spending his first eight in Minnesota.
Hunter finished third in the NFL with 15 sacks, marking the fourth year in a row and seventh time in his career that he reached double digits. He has been named a first-team All-Pro on three occasions and to the Pro Bowl five times. From his days with the Vikings, he’s familiar with Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Hunter has sacked Rodgers 6 1/2 times in his career. The only quarterback he’s sacked more is Matthew Stafford.
Anderson, the league’s top defensive rookie in 2023, finished tied for eighth with 12 sacks, and his 85 quarterback pressures were second in the league. He and Hunter each forced three fumbles, adding to the Texans’ bounty of takeaways.
“For us and how we play defense all year, it’s really predicated on how we get after the passer,” Ryans said. “That’s starting with Will and Danielle, and what they do off the edge and always our interior guys and how they’re collapsing the pocket. That will be really important this week. How can we disrupt the passer as much as possible to make it difficult f0r (Rodgers) to put us in advantageous positions to go and take the football away?”
Anderson was selected to the Pro Bowl as was Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. Like Anderson, Stingley is a former No. 3 overall draft pick, joining the Texans in 2022. He is one of four players on the roster with four interceptions this season. Cornerback Kamari Lassiter and safeties Jalen Pitre and Calen Bullock are the others. Pitre (second round, 2022), Lassiter (second round, 2024) and Bullock (third round, 2024) are other recent high draft picks who have excelled in the secondary for the Texans.
“They’ve got a top-flight corner tandem on the outside,” Tomlin said. “They rush very well. They cover very well. They’re not trying to split the atom schematically. They don’t have to when you have corners and edge rushers like that.”