The Houston Texans saw their season end at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs, who took them out in the AFC Divisional Round. The Chiefs then got blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles who shut KC down offensively in Super Bowl 59 in impressive fashion.
Former NFL linebacker Luke Kuechly mentioned that the Eagles had both a good pass-rush and a good secondary that helped them accomplish the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl. Kuechly listed the Texans as a team that could truly take what the Eagles did and benefit from it this year.
"Another group is Houston with Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson," Kuechly said on Up & Adams. "If [the Texans] can find a good guy on the inside of that defense to push the pocket, I think they've got a chance [to do what the Eagles did in the Super Bowl]."
Luke Kuechly says the Texans have what it takes to do what the Eagles just pulled off
The Eagles defense harassed Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense all game long, sacking the three-time Super Bowl winner six times and never giving him enough time to make something happen. Not only was the pass rush on point with making Mahomes feel uncomfortable but the secondary did their part in ensuring the targets couldn't get the ball sent their way.
Kuechly is right that the Texans have the right kind of defense to replicate this formula and we saw it play out in the divisional round. Houston was very much in that game but kept shooting themselves in the foot with protection issues, missed kicks, and blocked kicks (well, one blocked kick). The defense did a nice job limiting the Chiefs offense though and that bodes well for the future.
The Texans have yet to appear in an AFC Championship Game since entering the NFL in 2002 but now they have a strong blueprint to go off of. They need to add some help to their interior defensive line and hope everything breaks their way but the formula is there. Now it's time to replicate it and try to do what no Texans team has been able to do so far.
