Tag: edge defense

Texans DE Jonathan Greenard says stopping the run ‘is a want-to thing’

The Houston Texans had immense trouble stopping the run in 2020. Jonathan Greenard hinted that failure to stop the run may have been an effort issue.

The Houston Texans were the worst team in the NFL at stopping the run a year ago.

Teams busted the Texans for 5.2 yards per carry in 2020, the highest in the NFL. It was just one component of the Texans’ 4-12 record, but it may have been the one statistic tied to effort.

“Stopping the run, first of all, is a want-to thing,” Texans defensive end Jonathan Greenard told reporters on a Zoom call on June 10. “If you don’t have the want or the will to stop the run, you can’t do anything else in the game of football. Playing defense is going to get you the rewards for everything, so stopping the run is the main emphasis that we’re putting on now.”

The Texans have gone from a 3-4 defense, which they played since 2011, to a Tampa 2 scheme with a 4-3 front under new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith. Although the emphasis to stop the run is universal among every defense, Smith’s scheme provides for a new way to approach the endeavor.

Said Greenard: “Shooting your hands, making sure your eyes are in the right place, hands in the right place, you’re in the right gap and finishing on the ball. A lot of times last year you saw we had a lot of plays we just didn’t finish, a lot of games we didn’t finish. We take that as a chip on our shoulder.”

The former 2020 third-round pick from Florida collected 19 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, 1.0 sack, and a pass breakup through 13 games, one of which he started.

Greenard isn’t burying the bad memories of failing to stop the run, and neither are his teammates who remained after general manager Nick Caserio’s 90-plus roster moves throughout the offseason.

“Don’t think that we kind of just put it on the backburner because we definitely do remember that,” said Greenard. “We definitely use that as fuel because that’s one thing he’s teaching us as soon as he got in there, is turn the ball over, get after the quarterback and make these guys feel you.

“I think that’s one thing we’ve got to bring back here is to make people feel us and not adjust to them. They got to adjust to us.”

Texans believe OLB Jacob Martin can challenge offenses in 2020

Houston Texans defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver believes outside linebacker Jacob Martin can play a key part in the defense in 2020.

Jacob Martin came over with fellow outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo as part of the Jadeveon Clowney trade at the end of the 2019 preseason.

While pundits focused on the 2020 fourth-round pick the Houston Texans received as part of the compensation, the defense gained a budding edge defender in Martin, who is expected to have a larger role in the defense in his second season.

“Jacob is a guy that can pose problems for offenses because he can do a lot of things,” first-year defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver told reporters Aug. 18. “He obviously can rush off the edge, rush on the interior. You saw him get a sack in the playoff game against Buffalo last year when he ran that game with [outside linebacker] Whitney (Mercilus). You can drop him into coverage. Finding him and IDing him is going to be an issue for offenses.”

Martin collected 3.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery through 14 games with Houston. In the playoffs, Martin recorded 1.0 sack, two tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery.

A former 2018 sixth-round pick from Temple, Martin is still developing as a complete player, and the Texans are on the receiving end of that growth.

“That multiplicity as a coordinator, you love guys like that because you can get creative and you can do some things,” Weaver said. “The more he can handle from a football FBI standpoint, the more we’re able to do with him, it just makes us that much more complex defensively. We’re thrilled to have him.”

With Duke Ejiofor being lost for the season with a torn ACL, the Texans will rely a little bit more on Martin to generate pressure from the edge and confuse opposing offenses. If the Texans can benefit from Martin’s development in year three as a pro, it could bolster their pass rush.

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Texans Talk Podcast: Visiting with Houston DE Charles Omenihu

Houston Texans defensive end Charles Omenihu drops by the “Texans Talk Podcast” to talk about his goals for 2020 and what motivates him.

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The “Texans Talk Podcast” returns this week with two very special guests.

In the first half of the podcast, host Anthony Wood gets a chance to catch up with Texans Radio Network play-by-play Marc Vandermeer and get his thoughts on Houston’s roster post-draft. Vandermeer also talks about how receiver Brandin Cooks has the right makeup off-the-field of a Bill O’Brien type of guy.

The second half of the podcast features an exclusive interview with defensive end Charles Omenihu. The edge defender, who enters his second year after being taken in the fifth-round of last year’s draft, reveals his goals for 2020.

Make sure to keep up to date with all of the latest Texans news, rumors, and analysis by subscribing to the “Texans Talk Podcast” on Apple, Google, Stitcher, or Audioboom.

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