Houston Texans: Week 4 grades are below average vs. Vikings

Houston Texans Grades: Defense

When a unit is on the field for over 36 minutes in a game, that isn’t fair to the Houston Texans defense, but on the other hand they need to amp up their overall play because they aren’t helping themselves in any way either… and just like the offense, changes need to be made somewhere.

In a quick look at the defensive stats, P.J. Hall has been playing well this season, and on Sunday he had one sack, plus six combined tackles (two solo).

One thing that would be nice to see from the Houston Texans is more snaps for Lonnie Johnson Jr.

Johnson only played nine snaps on defense this past Sunday (14 percent), and that’s unacceptable and foolish of the Houston Texans defensive coaching staff. Johnson is only going to improve with more playing time, and for the Texans not to play him more when the Vikings had two players catch for over 100 yards each is a shame.

A plus was two sacks by Whitney Mercilus, but a negative was the Texans just didn’t seem to pressure the Vikings or make them uncomfortable because of their rushing game.

As stated in earlier articles, the run defense of the Texans needs a lot of work, and it just didn’t exist much in Week 4 when Dalvin Cook totaled 130 yards on 27 carries, as he and his Minnesota teammates chipped away at the Houston defense. Also with the Vikings, they scored one touchdown in each quarter.

Work needs to be done, and improvement needs made quickly because an 0-4 start could be just the beginning if things don’t improve soon.

Grade: D