Veteran defensive lineman Jerry Hughes had seen some bad days as a part of the Houston Texans. He was, for instance, part of a 2022 defense that allowed their opponents to score 24.7 points while giving up an average of 392.3 total yards.
But since the hiring of coach DeMeco Ryans in February, improvements on defensive are expected. Ryans is entering his first season with the Texans after two consecutive years leading the San Francisco 49ers to the league's best defense.
Ryans has spent the first few months of his tenure examining ways to improve Houston's defense. And within the first few practices during mandatory minicamp, Hughes has already seen the Texans' defense become what he terms "more violent."
"DeMeco has us attacking off the ball, on the ball, just playing on the other team's line of scrimmage, just really taking that attack to them," Ryans said. "Doing a lot of technique work in this off-season which has been great that we get to get back to the fundamental elements of playing football."
Improving the physicality will help enhance its inferior defense in several ways, but the Texans' ability to stop the run will benefit the most.
Houston gave up the most yards on the ground in the NFL last season by allowing an average of 170.2 yards, which included six running backs who rushed for over 100.
Ryans said the goal of stopping the run is to do everything possible to disrupt the opposing team's backfield. Under Ryans, the 49ers allowed 77.7 rushing yards in 2022.
San Francisco's run defense helped the 49ers hold their opponents to 16.3 points while finishing the regular season 13-4.
"Stopping the run is going to start with the mindset," Ryans said. "It’s going to be the mindset of being the most physical team and playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage."
Hughes concluded his first season with the Texans as the team leader in sacks with 9.0. But stopping the run was a struggle for the 13-year veteran. According to Pro Football Focus, Hughes finished the 2022 campaign with an overall grade of 71.4 while registering a run defensive grade of 59.7.
But in 2023? Maybe Hughes and the Houston defense will be better by being "more violent.''
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