Amid a 4-12 season, the Houston Texans had possibly the worst defensive team in the league.
The Texans ended the 2020 season near the bottom of every defensive category. They allowed the third-most total yardage giving up an average of 416.8 yards per game, as their opponents scoring an average of 29.0 points.
“Last year just felt like, like I said, the defense, it just wasn’t tight enough,” safety Justin Reid told reporters on a Zoom call on April 23. “Too many holes, too many pitch and catches. We tried to put some emphasis on the ball but we didn’t do a good enough job last year, plain and simple.”
The defensive results showcased each week were appalling, but that does not mean the Texans did not invest money in their defense.
According to Lines.com, the Texans spent the most money per defensive stat last season. The average margin NFL teams spent on defensive stats was $2.1 million in 2020. Meanwhile, the Texans spent the most money at $3.38 million.
However, the Texans may get more bang for their buck in 2021 with new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith.
Tfirst thing that Coach Smith came in and said, and he put up on the big presentation during an OTA meeting, was we’re going to get the ball,” said Reid. “That’s been an emphasis in every meeting that they’ve talked about. We have target goals on how many times we even want to punch the ball. This is the first time I’ve seen it to where we’re tracking just strips attempts, punch attempts — tracking all of that. Really trying to put an emphasis on guys to go after the ball and create turnovers because those are game-changing situations.”
Houston was dead last in the NFL with nine takeaways. Their run defense was similarly putrid at 5.2 yards per carry surrendered.
