Houston Texans Pass Protection Rates Out Well

The crew over at ProFootballFocus.com continues to pelt fans with information about the 2010 NFL season. In The Loop, we have discussed some of their findings on other positions. Today, they ranked team by pass protection. Your Houston Texans? They came in eighth. Let’s see what they had to say, shall we?

The interior of the line does a particularly good job of not allowing pressure up the gut, something which isn’t hurt by playing the Colts twice a year. You do wonder if they might be pressed to bring in a back for some third down blocking help. As good as Arian Foster is catching the ball out of the backfield, he can give up a bit more pressure than you like to see a back give up.

It’s not a surprise that the interior line continues to get credit this off-season. PFF loves them some Wade Smith and deemed him one of the best free agent pickups of last off-season as well as one of the best guards in the game. Starting center Chris Myers, for all the Kris Jenkins jokes, was healthy and it showed in his performance as he was arguably the best lineman for Houston last season. In fact, if Houston had won more (and subsequently been seen by larger audiences) then both men probably could have made their way into the Pro Bowl and/or All Pro teams based on their performance.

If right tackle Eric Winston can bounce back after a bad pass protection season, left tackle Duane Brown can continue improving at the rate he has (much to the surprise of the ol’ SBNH editor), and quarterback Matt Schaub can regain his safety valve (read: a healthy Owen Daniels since he got that nice new contract) then Houston could easily vault into the top five of pass protecting teams…when the lockout is over of course.