Over the first six editions of our Defensive Spotlight series here at Toro Times, we've taken a look at someone of the top players on the Houston Texans defense. For the most part, we've hit the major names, such as Will Anderson Jr., Derek Stingley Jr. and Danielle Hunter. Today, we're going to go in a slightly different direction. Rather than shining the spotlight onto a Texans defender, we're instead going to let defensive coordinator Matt Burke get some well-deserved recognition.
Ask a casual football fan who the defensive coordinator of the Houston Texans is, and they probably won't be able to give you a name. Hell, they might just assume its head coach DeMeco Ryans, and until just a few weeks ago, they weren't totally wrong. Ryans had been calling the plays for the Texans defense until Week 4 this year, at which point he relinquished play-calling duties to Matt Burke, who joined Ryans' staff just about a week after the first-time head coach was hired.
It's not as if Matt Burke's name recognition is that of Steve Spagnuolo in Kansas City, Vic Fangio in Philadelphia, or even someone like Joe Brady in Buffalo. But in time, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume he could potentially get to that point. Whether Burke was calling the plays or not, he still has had a hand in crafting and orchestrating one of the league's best defenses each of the last two years.
Burke's coaching career has taken him all around the NFL, with stints in Tennessee, Detroit, Cincinnati, Miami, Philadelphia, New York and Arizona before landing with Houston in February 2023. With nearly two decades in the league before the start of his Texans tenure, Burke had clearly learned a thing or two.
Pay close enough attention to the Texans defense and it won't take long to see that this is one of the most disciplined and locked in units in the NFL. To a man, they relentlessly swarm to the ball, never giving up on any plays until the whistle blows. It's clinic tape.
Houston isn't doing anything too funky. They don't blitz a ton, they aren't presenting looks that are overly exotic. But they are fundamentally sound, physical, and prideful, and that starts with a coaching staff that's made up not only of a former Defensive Rookie of the Year in DeMeco Ryans, but also in Matt Burke, a former college safety who played in the Ivy League, proving he's got the brains and the brawn to do this job at an extremely high level.
Matt Burke's 2025 Season to Date
What the stats are saying: 16.3 points per game (1st in NFL), 4.6 yards per play (2nd), 16 forced turnovers (T-5th), 57.6% opponent completion percentage (2nd), 72.7 opponent passer rating (1st), 34.4% 3rd down conversation rate (3rd)
What DeMeco Ryans said about Matt Burke after Burke took over play-calling duties ahead of Houston's Week 4 game: “Burke has called plays before [in the preseason]. We all collectively put the gameplan together. It worked well, and he did a good job of calling it on Sunday," Ryans said, per Jonathan Alenxader of the Houston Chronicle. “We worked well in tandem doing that. Burke did a really nice job. Everybody, our entire sideline and our operation.”
What Will Anderson Jr. had to say after Texans shut out Titans in Burke's first game calling the defense: “I thought we went out and we played tremendous defense,” Will Anderson Jr. said, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 Houston. “We just executed the fundamentals. That’s the type of defense that we knew we had. I feel like that’s the most energy that we had on defense so far this year. Everybody just being free, flying around, having fun and executing the game plan.”
What Sean Pendergast of the Houston Press had to say about Matt Burke on October 13: "The Texans’ defense is, far and away, by four points a game, the best scoring defense in football, and they’ve lived up to every bit of the hype. If anything, there is probably more room to improve, as they’ve only forced six turnovers in five games, and they haven’t had a ton of sacks. They are bound to improve in both of those areas over the next several weeks. There is too much talent not to. In Burke’s two games calling plays, the opposing teams have scored a total of ten points."
Past Defensive Spotlights
10/8/2025 - Jalen Pitre
10/15/2025 - Danielle Hunter
10/22/2025 - Will Anderson Jr.
10/29/2025 - Azeez Al-Shaair
11/5/2025 - Kamari Lassiter
11/12/2025 - Sheldon Rankins