Houston Texans: Depth a Key for a Deep Playoff Run

The Houston Texans have been nicked up and injured all year long.  They started the season without Arian Foster, who had only 10 carries in the first four games.  Andre Johnson has missed five full games and is likely to miss one more.  Mario Williams was lost for the season in the fifth week of the season.  Daniel Manning has missed the last two games, and his return to the team is still somewhat questionable.

For many teams, including Texans teams of the past, that is more than enough to ruin their season.  The Texans offense was supposed to sport the best running back and the best receiver in the NFL.  However, that has only come to fruition in part of the Pittsburgh game.  The team hopes that Johnson will be back after the bye week, but at this point nothing is certain.

Through five games, Mario Williams was leading the team in sacks and had the look of someone who could lead the league in sacks by the end of the year.  That was obviously cut short when he tore his pectoral and ended his season with just five sacks.

Somehow this didn't stop the Texans from having the best season in the franchise's history, so far.  The team is three games over .500 for the first time in franchise history and with Peyton Manning and the Colts completely out of it, Chris Johnson apparently quitting on his team and the Blaine Gabbert experiment falling far short of what Cam Newton has done, the Texans seem to have a strong hold on the AFC South.

If the Texans do go on to clench their first playoff berth, it will be due in large part to the success of some unlikely players.  The Texans have an assortment of young players that are playing extremely well and have picked up the slack for some of the injured superstars.

Brooks Reed has stepped in to fill Williams' shoes and has done a fantastic job.  He doesn't have the sack numbers that No. 90 was putting up (four through the first nine games), but he has been a force from the outside.  He brings fire and intensity to every play and no quarterback can feel comfortable with Reed sitting on the edge.

One of the factors that has made Reed a viable threat as a pass-rusher is the outstanding play of Connor Barwin.  Coming off of an injury and switching to a brand new position, Barwin deserves a ton of credit for his ability to create chaos on the outside. 

Barwin only has three sacks, but just like Reed he puts constant pressure on the offensive line.  Barwin has also shown a great amount of versatility when asked to switch from strong side to weak side.

When Arian Foster was out, Ben Tate showed that he was more than capable of filling in for the best running back in the league.  Tate not only had to prove that he could play in the NFL (he was injured in the first preseason game of his rookie year), but that he could overcome the ankle injury that had kept him out.

He did both and is averaging the 12th most yards per game in the NFL.  This has given the Texans hands down the best one-two punch at running back in the NFL, and their ability to run the ball is the only thing that has saved them from the Johnson injury.  Johnson is one of the most irreplaceable players in the NFL and there is certainly no one on the Texans roster that can fill in at wide receiver for him. 

However, Kubiak and the coaching staff deserve credit for changing into a truly run-first team in this pass-oriented NFL.

The Texans running game has been dominant and has not only put points up on the board but has also taken care of the defense that is currently leading the NFL in yards per game.  This is just one of the many example of how the Texans have played as a team to get to where they are now and what they will need to do to get to where they want to go, which starts with the playoffs and just might end in the Super Bowl.