It's not often you stand up for something and then totally reverse your opinion in just three weeks of watching football, but John McClain managed to do just that as the Texans fell to 4-5 yesterday. Here is his in-depth analysis of the Texans defense:
The Texans' pass defense is the worst I've seen in more than 30 years of covering the NFL.
It took guts to admit that. Well, not really, since you glossed over it again in your Chronicle recap. I think I need a jump, because this is about to get long and tersely worded.
I point you to some words written after the Chiefs game:
Now, about the Texans. I'm stunned that so many of you have such a negative outlook about the team.
Yes, the defense has been terrible, but it's the same coaches from last season when the Texans ranked fourth in defense, including second against the run, over the last 13 games. Frank Bush and the other defensive assistants didn't just get stupid. They're doing everything they can think of, and they'll keep making changes in personnel and strategy, but Bush isn't going to get fired, no matter how much the fans demand it.
Wow, who would have thought that one of the worst defenses in modern NFL history would leave fans "negative" after a 4-2 start? Everyone except John McClain?
Newsflash to the Houston Media: The Texans defense was a paper tiger last year. They had a decent run defense and played just an awful slate of quarterbacks, and despite that awful slate, the pass defense was still below average. They let Dunta Robinson walk (fairly) and didn't address him leaving. In fact, they had a whole offseason to shore up holes on the defense, and they did nothing. Frank Bush was never a good coordinator, as evidenced by the fact that the season turned around for him when he started Bernard Pollard, not when he "simplified" things or any other buzz words.
We can talk about the failings of the offense all day long, and believe me, there are quite a few between the bad coaching, bad pass blocking, and Rick Dennison's coaching of the passing game. But at the end of the day, the Texans have scored 217 points in 9 games. Every other team that has scored 200+ points is over .500. What is our defensive mastermind doing about that?
Informed of his unit's historic pace of plight, Bush laughed.
"I heard those same things last year, so that part doesn't bother me so much," Bush said.
Oh, right. Nothing.