The Houston Texans shouldn't have lost to the New York Jets on Sunday but they did. Injuries to Nico Collins and C.J. Stroud, as well as a collapse by the defense, didn't help matters, but the better team on paper still lost. That said, a bad loss doesn't mean there isn't still some good to take away from things.
The Texans are still ahead of the rebuild schedule and are just one game out of the playoffs with some key games ahead on the schedule that could get them right back into the thick of things should they execute as needed. So we're going to remind ourselves that the season isn't over just yet and because of that thought, we're going to look at some of the better players on defense from this past week's game.
We'll be using PFF to help us here, so these are the three top-rated Houston Texans defenders according to Pro Football Focus.
Derek Barnett - 83 DEF
Derek Barnett was the highest-rated defender from the Texans on Sunday, racking up a team-high defensive rating of 83.0 overall, and an 83.9 rating against the run. He had just two tackles but he made a sizeable impact across the 28 plays he had.
Jonathan Greenard - 78.3 DEF
The defensive end for the Houston Texans now has a new career-high for sacks for a single season; as Greenard registered two more against the New York Jets to bring his season total to 10. He only had a 65.5 score against the run, but he had a 76.3 score for his pass rushing. While Will Anderson Jr. isn't getting a lot of sacks this year, it's clear that his impact on the team has allowed others, namely Greenard to find success.
Khalil Davis - 70.4 DEF
Playing across just 22 snaps all game, backup defensive tackle Khalil Davis rounds out the top three rated players according to PFF, with the linemen having a solid outing chasing down Jets' quarterback Zach Wilson.