The Houston Texans didn’t do very many good things, which was reflected in their 4-13 finish at the end of the 2021 season.
However, the Texans were able to finish in the top-10 in a key area that is a hallmark of a successful football team.
After the 17-game season, Houston tallied 25 takeaways, tied with the Los Angeles Rams and the Miami Dolphins for the 10th-most in the NFL.
What makes the Texans’ placement in the top-10 in takeaways is they are the only team with a losing record to be in the mix. The Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, and the Miami Dolphins are the only other teams like the Texans who will be watching the playoffs from the couch this January.
While takeaways aren’t everything, they are a good starting point for a rebuild team.
“That was definitely something good to see,” linebacker Christian Kirksey said on Jan. 10. “You see a lot of challenging things happen in the season of football, but when you do pull out good things, that means you’re always improving somewhere. Our record wasn’t where we wanted it, but we still got better at something, and that’s all you can ask for.”
While the Texans can’t dwell on their record, they can look to what worked, and according to Kirksey, it was the takeaways.
Said Kirksey: “You’ve got to look at the good things and say, ‘All right, what can I build at, and where can I make a statement going into next year?’ I think that’s something to end in the top-10 in takeaways knowing the previous year wasn’t that good. It shows improvement, that’s all you can ask for.”
Kirksey believes the Texans were able to finish in the top-10 in takeaways due to the constant emphasis from defensive coordinator Lovie Smith.
“When you look at Lovie’s track record, he always has defenses that have a bunch of takeaways, and that’s something that he preached,” said Kirksey. “He put special emphasis on takeaways and we focused on it. Obviously, it was a good outcome for us to see all those takeaways.”
An area where the Texans could improve is in the run defense. Houston finished tied with the Los Angeles Chargers and Arizona Cardinals for the fifth-most yards per carry surrendered at 4.6.