Houston Texans: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Secondary
By Bob Dove
What could trigger underperformance by the secondary, The Bad? Even as deep as the Texans secondary is a rash of injuries could cause performance below expectations. The Texans have a lot of talent in the secondary, but it is mostly young talent. If a couple of veterans go down the cohesiveness of the secondary will suffer.
Father Time could also play a role. If 32-year-old Johnathan Joseph suddenly loses a step the Texans, with deference to his past contributions and leadership, will hesitate to pull him until the deficit is obviously costing wins. There is no sign that Joseph is slowing down, but often that happens suddenly at skill positions requiring speed and quickness. If safeties have to compensate for Joseph’s diminishing cover skills, the entire secondary suffers.
Underperformance by the front seven could put more pressure on the secondary than it is capable of handling. If bruising running backs routinely break into the secondary and opposing quarterbacks are unmolested in the pocket this secondary is not good enough to compensate. The same could be said for almost every secondary in the league.
Next: The Ugly