The bye week is a time for self-evaluation, and the Houston Texans had plenty of material to peruse during Week 10.
The Texans didn’t just see their mistakes when they looked at the film; they also saw their successes.
According to defensive end Jonathan Greenard, what the Texans saw about their defense was that they could be a very formidable unit.
“We showed that we have flashes of being a very, very dominant defense,” said Greenard. “We’ve done that in a lot of games we’ve played. Now it’s just a matter of consistently doing that.”
The Texans are still tied for ninth-most takeaways in the NFL with 14 despite having a bye week. Houston is also tied for the 20th-most sacks with 19 with Greenard leading the way with 7.0.
As the Texans finish their off week and gear up for the Tennessee Titans Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at Nissan Stadium, Greenard sees an opportunity for Houston to prove their unit can play at a high level.
Said Greenard: “This is a great game and great opportunity for us. We can still control our destiny. It’s not far out the count to still have a chance at this. If we win out, we control this. We just have to have that same approach and understand that if we all believe that then that makes everything go a little bit longer.”
At 1-8, the Texans would have to finish 9-8 to have a chance to make the playoffs. The way Houston’s schedule is lined up, they would have a 5-1 record in the AFC South with sweeps against the Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars. Presuming both Tennessee at 8-2 and the Indianapolis Colts at 5-5 have horrendous collapses that would make a lahar look like molasses, the Texans could win the division outright.
Houston’s first step is to snap their eight-game losing streak.
“Nobody likes losing,” said Greenard. “You can’t find one person who like to lose. It fuels me, for sure. Like I said, stats and all the other stuff might be on my side, but we’re not winning so I could care less about that.”
If the defense leads the way, Houston might be able to take it a game at a time.