There were favorable happenings for the Houston Texans in their Week 1 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Although being squelched 25-9 and beginning another rebuilding season with an 0-1 mark invites its own pessimism, the Texans had a few positive trends develop on the field at M&T Bank Stadium.
Would you believe three of the best cornerbacks across the league were in Texans uniforms in Week 1?
According to John Kosko from Pro Football Focus, the top cornerback was Tavierre Thomas, who earned a 91.2 coverage grade from the analytics firm.
Thomas locked it down vs. the Ravens, recording four pass stops, including one tackle for a loss. Not only was he excellent on targeted passes, where he allowed -0.308 expected points added (EPA) per target, but Thomas was the eighth-best cornerback at preventing separation on all pass plays.
Steven Nelson came in at No. 8 overall with an 84.9 coverage grade. Considering the 30-year-old had an interception and a pass breakup, it would be hard to argue Nelson not being somewhere around the top-10.
Second-year Derek Stingley made the list, but had an interesting placement at No. 24 with a 65.0 grade.
Stingley looked more like the LSU freshman version of himself in Week 1, as he allowed just one catch for 20 yards and forced an incompletion while allowing the fourth-best separation rate of the week.
If the Texans are able to consistently take care of the boundaries and add tight slot coverage, it won’t be hard to find once the offense starts scoring points and opponents have to play catch-up.
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