These three position groups need to get their stuff together.
The Houston Texans were, to a very significant degree, lucky to leave Sunday with a win. The Indianapolis Colts nearly defeated the Texans in Week 1 but fell to a final score of 29-27. A big reason why the Colts were able to keep pace as much as they were involved was the defense breaking down constantly.
Anthony Richardson went 9-19 but threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns. Neither of which should've happened, but they did. The Colts were just behind on the Texans' secondary all game, and Richardson finally found some guys deep.
Because of that, the Texans' defense ended up looking pretty bad. Sure, some guys looked good, but one look at the PFF scores and you can see clearly who did and didn't play well. Their scores aren't gospel but in this case, they're a fair reflection. So which position groups struggled?
Tight Ends
Dalton Schultz and Cade Stover were less than effective in every facet of the game on Sunday. Schultz is supposedly a Pro Bowl talent, while Stover the heir apparent, and instead, Brevin Jordan outplayed both of them.
Linebackers
Henry To'oto'o had arguably the best game of his career. That's where the platitudes end, however. Azeez Al-Shaair struggled in every facet of the game, proving himself a liability against the Colts in every way possible. He couldn't cover anyone, he couldn't tackle anyone, and mostly he was just there to be bullied by the Colts offensive line. Made worse by this is the fact that Jake Hansen, who was supposed to be filling in for Christian Harris, didn't play a down on defense. Instead, he was limited to just special team action.
Defensive Tackles
This could be for the larger defensive line, but we're sticking with the tackles as they're the ones who failed more often. Folorunso Fatukasi looked the best out of the group but even he was anything but impressive. It just gets worse from there, with guys like Khalil Davis looking like they don't belong on the field.
