Houston Texans & Wade Phillips’ New Defense Are Behind the Eight Ball.
By Joe Owens
At one point late in the season the Houston Texans defense were on pace to break the NFL record for passing yards allowed by a defense in a season. They managed to stave off breaking that record but not by much. An anemic pass rush along with a secondary filled with more wholes than a sea sponge were to blame. Defensive back Kareem Jackson was last years team first round pick and the second DB taken behind Cleveland Browns Joe Haden. It Surprised everyone that the Houston Texans reached for Kareem as early as they had done. Needless to say Jackson looked lost last year and the spotlight will be on Kareem Jackson even more so this year.
Wade Phillips has spoken to the media and been very clear that Phillips expects Kareem jackson to play like a number one pick. Phillips recently came out and defended his new young prodigy by saying, “The guy’s a number one pick, so that’s what we expect him to play like, a number one player,” Phillips said. “And I think that’s the problem with guys that are picked in the first round. (People) expect them to be all-stars, and a lot of times the first year or first couple years, but it takes a little while. It takes getting your feet wet sometimes, especially at corner.
Regardless of Wade’s take on Jackson it’s not surprising for Wade to show support for his young players. Wade and the rest of the Houston Texans defense will have their hands full installing the new defense in time for the season. The current NFL lockout is only compounding these issues by delaying the time coaches and players can come together in order to learn the new schemes. Assuming there is a season this year expect the new defense to look lost the first few games. If they come out and surprise everyone and look great then even better.
Don’t count on that happening because the Houston Texans and Wade Phillips are behind the eight ball this late in the off season already.
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