Houston Texans Defense Needs Mental Practice

When Gary Kubiak took over as coach of the Texans in 2006, his mission was to change the mindset of a losing team.

The Texans were coming off a thoroughly embarrassing 2-14 campaign and the players were understandably lacking confidence. 

In his first preseason as head coach, Kubiak and the Texans went 3-1.  While preseason games rarely matter, Kubiak made them matter that year. 

He celebrated the victories as a way to get the players to understand that winning feels good and they really can win in the NFL.

Slowly the culture within the Texans locker room started to change from "we hope we can win" to "we know we can win."

With that culture change came a change in expectations for both player and fan.

With Sunday's 31-24 loss to the Jaguars, Kubiak may be faced with yet another coaching challenge that has nothing to do with X's and O's.

While two plays stand out from this game (Kevin Walter's phantom pass interference that cost the team a touchdown and Chris Brown's subsequent goal-line fumble) the main culprit was again a defense more porous than a colander. 

The Texans' defense gave up its fourth running touchdown of over 35 yards this season, and the post game quotes suggest that the issues may be mental more than tactical.

"We had some missed tackles in there," said DeMeco Ryans. "They broke another long run on us. (Defensive coordinator) Frank (Bush) is putting us in great situations; he's making great calls. We just have to play the defense as well as we can play."

Mario Williams followed by saying, "We were out of gap, once again. Every time we sit here and give up big yardage like that, it's us. It's nothing they did at all. We had a guy right there and we were just completely out of gap."

Even defensive coordinator Frank Bush chimed in saying, "sometimes guys are a little bit over-zealous; guys try too hard. Other times, guys make mistakes."

These mental errors are the same errors the team made last week in Tennessee and in week one against the Jets.

On Maurice Jones-Drew's 61-yard touchdown scamper, the Texans had eight in the box and safety John Busing over compensated on an inside move and broke contain.  This opened the outside lane for Jones-Drew and at the race was on.

The Texans lost that race.

Anyone who has ever played any level of organized sports, from a local beer league softball team to professional sports, can attest that people play better when they are relaxed and comfortable.

The current Texans defense is anything but relaxed and comfortable and their play is tentative and uncertain.

The players seem to be trying so hard to change this that they are not playing disciplined and not trusting their teammates to make the play.  This makes them more tense and more uncertain.

It is not too late to change this trend, but Kubiak must act now before it is too late to save this season, and possibly his job.

With as potent an offense as the Texans possess, they do not need a top flight defense...merely one that can occasionally keep the opposition in check. 

While the team needs an infusion of talent at defensive tackle, cornerback, and safety, there should be enough skill at linebacker and defensive end that a well designed scheme should allow them to be at least average.

In order to become so, however, Kubiak must take a page from his own coaching history and start by changing the mindset. 

This defense does not seem to have faith in themselves and in their ability.  Until they do, the team will not be able to achieve the higher expectations that Kubiak has instilled.