Docking at Reliant Stadium

​Attention, Houston owner Bob McNair. Your defense needs help, and the key may be opening your pocketbook. Ideally, do it in a hurry.

Tony Romo and the Cowboys (1-2) exposed the previously unbeaten Texans’ dirty little secret on Sunday, throwing for 284 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions against the NFL’s worst pass defense. It led to a stinging 27-13 loss at sold-out Reliant Stadium, one which spoiled a great opportunity for the Texans (2-1) to cement their status as one of the league’s elite.

“We can’t give up 27 points,” safety Bernard Pollard said. “We can’t do that. I think we have to find some way, somehow to man up and stop this passing attack. It’s been ridiculous, it really has.”

The 27 points from Dallas and Romo came after Peyton Manning and Donovan
McNabb each threw for more than 400 yards against the Texans. It also
came in the absence of any semblance of a pass rush.

Could Aaron Schobel be listening? More importantly, are the Texans angry enough to pay up?

The
Cowboys outplayed a listless Texans team in every phase of the game,
but the star-studded Houston offense will come around. The four-game
suspension of left tackle Duane Brown proved crucial, as Dallas’
Demarcus Ware toyed with replacement Rashad Butler in collecting three
sacks and forcing a crucial penalty.

Brown’s next three absences
will come against the Raiders, Giants and Chiefs — teams the Texans
should defeat regardless of their left tackle. Brown should return by
the time the Texans have their rematch with Indianapolis and play the
meat of their schedule in November.

The true concerns arise on
the defensive side of the ball, where Romo posted a QB rating of 127.6
against the hapless Houston secondary and a pass rush that rarely made
him leave the pocket. Since defensive end Connor Barwin broke his leg
early in the second quarter against Indianapolis, the Texans’ pass rush —
and accordingly, overall pass defense — has been pathetic.

On Sunday, Romo was not sacked and rarely even hit, while Schaub faced constant pressure and went down four times.

Jesse
Nading says the right things and appears to be a hard worker, but his
play opposite Mario Williams has been abysmal. (On passing downs,
Antonio Smith usually moves to defensive tackle, making room for Nading
at end.)

The solution could be Schobel, the former Buffalo Bill
who posted double-digit sack seasons with regularity, including in 2009.
He retired from the Bills in July before flirting with a comeback in
Houston during training camp. Schobel’s family is from Columbus, and he
played his college ball at TCU in Fort Worth.

Unfortunately,
McNair — according to reports — wasn’t willing to make a financial
offer in the neighborhood of what Schobel wanted. Even if the Texans
feel they’re overpaying, a deal needs to be done — particularly since
the NFL lacks a salary cap this season. The Texans have too much elite
talent on offense to waste at the hands of a defense without a pulse.

Perhaps
recently signed end Adewale Ogunleye can also be the answer, but the
veteran needs to be given on-field snaps and tested soon. The former
Bear signed after Barwin went down in week one, but was still inactive
on Sunday while working on his conditioning and learning the Texans’
schemes.

Likewise, the Texans need to look elsewhere at the free
safety spot, where Eugene Wilson’s play has been nearly as awful as that
of Nading. Wilson has long been derided in statistical circles as one
of the worst defenders in the NFL, but the Texans have defended him
based on intangibles, claiming that alternatives were either too
expensive or did not fit their scheme.

Newsflash: things can’t get any worse.

Growing
pains from young cornerbacks Kareem Jackson and Glover Quin are to be
expected. A veteran free safety routinely being seconds late on his
rotations is not acceptable.

Moreover, Wilson dropped a
point-blank interception that might have been returned for a game-tying
touchdown in the third quarter. It was the second consecutive week that a
crucial second-half pass hit Wilson directly in the hands, and the
second consecutive week he dropped it.

Again, unacceptable.

“To be a great defense you have to get turnovers,” linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. “That’s something we’re not doing.”

“We didn’t get turnovers and they did,” Williams added. “If we don’t win the turnover game then it’ll be hard for us to win.”

The
Texans found their strong safety, Pollard, by scanning the waiver wire
in late September 2009. Who’s to say lightning can’t strike again at the
free safety slot? There’s also young backup Troy Nolan, who showed a
nose for the ball in the preseason and collected multiple turnovers.

The
defense will certainly be upgraded by the return of star linebacker
Brian Cushing in two weeks. And if the Texans take care of business in
Oakland next Sunday, most fans would be happy with a 3-1 mark (including
a victory over the Colts) without their best defensive player.

But
over the long run, the Texans can’t contend for a Super Bowl with two
important roles on defense filled with bottom-tier players. And on a
team with so many stars elsewhere, it would be a shame to watch it fall
apart due to the likes of Nading and Wilson.

Alternatives are out
there, particularly at defensive end, where a star in Schobel may be
available. It’s up to McNair and head coach Gary Kubiak to use Sunday’s
disappointment as a catalyst for change.

It didn’t work that way
in 2009, when kicker Kris Brown and running back Chris Brown were given
too many chances. The Texans didn’t take action on their early-season
troubles, and the pair ended up dealing Houston late-season heartbreak.

The coming weeks will tell if the Texans learned from their mistakes.

This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.