Houston Texans defensive end Derek Barnett has really gone through the motions over the last couple years of his career, including a midseason 2023 release that landed him in Houston.
But, he found himself on the other side of the coin on Saturday night against the Cleveland Browns - and in a major way.
Barnett came up with two huge plays that paid major dividends in the Texans' first playoff win since 2019. I'm sure all of us can agree that his second play was the one that put the final nail in the Browns' coffin, as well.
Barnett's sack kills Browns' drive in the second quarter
The former first-rounder's first impact play came in the second quarter, with the Texans up by three points, at the time. The Browns offense was coming off off back-to-back touchdown drives and looked like it was starting to catch fire after opening the game with consecutive punts.
Houston quickly forced Joe Flacco and co. into a 3rd and 14, but as we all know, nothing is final in the NFL.
Barnett ended things, however, with a sack of Flacco and forced the Browns to punt. As it turned out, the Browns never scored another point, again.
This won't show up in the stat sheet, but it finished off the Browns
This game quickly fell apart for Cleveland and this play was the snowball that turned into an avalanche of what eventually became 35 straight points scored by the Texans.
Houston eventually pulled out to a 10-point lead in the third quarter, thus instilling a sense of urgency in the Browns. Flacco dropped back to pass, but Barnett's pressure forced an errant throw that subsequently landed in cornerback Steven Nelson's hands, who then took it 82-yards to the house for six-points.
Barnett just blows by Browns tackle James Hudson on the above play and the best part about both plays is not only did each one happen on opposite sides of the line, but they were good moves by Barnett. The first move is a good example of how pass rushers can swipe pass blocker's hands away and he also had good bend/agility, as well.
There were a ton of great performances on Saturday night and Barnett's was certainly one of them. In all, he finished with one tackle, 1.0 sack, two quarterback hits, and a tackle for loss.
Depth players making plays like this are the stories we see all the team when it comes to unexpected teams making Super Bowl runs. If the Texans continue to receive this type of effort from their non-stars, then it's hard imagining them anywhere else but Las Vegas in mid-February.
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