It didn’t take long for the Houston Texans defense to get things rolling against the Dallas Cowboys and the player responsible was linebacker Jacob Martin.
The Saturday night special for the Texans was Martin stripping the ball away from Cowboys quarterback Garrett Gilbert as he applied great pressure for the sack and forced fumble, which was recovered by Texans defensive lineman Charles Omenihu in the first quarter.
Martin has shown improvement this preseason, and it seems like he’s finally getting a fair chance to showcase his playing abilities with the Tampa 2 defense coached by defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, who joined the Texans as their DC this offseason.
This defensive play eventually led to the Houston Texans scoring the first points of the Week 2 preseason game with Mark Ingram rushing for the first Texans score against the Cowboys.
Below is the sack-fumble that led to the Texans touchdown as provided by the official @NFL Twitter page:
Taken away! @HoustonTexans get good field position. #HOUvsDAL pic.twitter.com/5OtVVtvlk4
— NFL (@NFL) August 22, 2021
Houston Texans: Jacob Martin could have best year yet in 2021
This is the season that Jacob Martin can show what he’s capable of on the football field. All Martin needs is more time in regular-season games. If he receives more snaps to his credit this season, the results can come. If he doesn’t produce at a high level, at least we’d all know, and he would at least have a real opportunity.
Martin joined the Houston Texans when the Texans traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks in September 2019, as he was an important piece of the trade at the time.
The aforementioned forced fumble and sack by Martin was very much needed for the Houston defense. If this unit can gain some confidence before the start of the ’21 regular season when the Houston Texans host the Jacksonville Jaguars, that would be something to look forward to watching, and maybe the Texans could prove a lot of folks wrong about their predicted outcome to the ’21 season.
Keep an eye on Martin because some have spoken highly of him since joining the team in the Clowney trade. With Smith as his defensive coordinator, the linebacker could finally gain more playing time, equaling more success for himself and the defense.
It is time to have some fun when watching the Texans defense, and for at least this moment, it was exciting to see a Texans turnover as they are adding to their first preseason effort from last Saturday.