When DeMeco Ryans took over as the Houston Texans’ head coach before last season, he brought his signature swarm defense with him. It’s become a core part of the team’s identity as they prepare for their second consecutive trip to the divisional round of the playoffs, where they will face the Kansas City Chiefs.
“You really can’t go out there if you’re not about it,” Ryans said.
The entire defense has fully embraced Ryans’ aggressive style, but there’s one player who stands out as the embodiment of it.
“Will every time,” cornerback Derek Stingley said, referring to defensive end Will Anderson Jr.
Anderson, who was named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year last year, has taken his game to new heights this season. He recorded 1½ sacks last week after racking up 11 during the regular season.
Anderson explained what swarm defense means to him.
“Do whatever it takes to get the ball, attacking the ball,” Anderson said. “We’ve got this saying in our D-line room; ‘who gonna pop it off?’ Whoever pops it off first, that’s swarming. Like who’s gonna make the big play? And I feel like there’s a lot of guys on defense that pop it off, who swarm.”
In their playoff win over the Chargers last week, the Texans intercepted Justin Herbert a career-high four times, including one pick-six. Herbert had been intercepted just three times all season. Houston’s four takeaways in the first week of the playoffs tied them with Philadelphia for the most in the NFL.
That performance followed a regular season where the Texans ranked fifth in the league, forcing 29 turnovers.
Stingley, who had two of those interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, shared his mindset on the team’s defensive mentality.
“It really just comes down to if I was to tell you this is the last time you’re gonna do something, how you gonna do it,” Stingley said. “It’s simple as that. Just do that every single play.”
Ryans explained that there’s no big secret behind his team’s ability to force turnovers. He believes it comes down to having good players and emphasizing turnover creation in practice, which carries over into games.
“That’s our main thing that we go into every week is talking about attacking the football, taking the football,” Ryans said. “Because we know, when you take the football away, it just raises your percentages of winning the football games… it’s the defense helping the team win the game.”
While all of Houston’s takeaways in their playoff win came via interceptions, Stingley was quick to highlight that the turnovers wouldn’t have happened without the defensive line’s pressure on Herbert. The Texans sacked him four times and hit him nine other times in the 32-12 victory.
“The defense starts with them up front,” Stingley said. “They’re doing their job and it just makes it easier for us on the back end.”
Anderson said that with each turnover, the defense grew more energized and pushed each other to see who would be the next to make a big play.
“That’s just that swarm mentality and we just feeding off each other,” Anderson said. “This person can’t do it by themselves so who is gonna be next and that just generates that contagious energy.”
In last week’s playoff win, the Texans became the fifth team since 1963 to record at least four sacks, four interceptions, and an interception return for a touchdown in a playoff game. The last three teams to achieve that feat all went on to win the Super Bowl: Tampa Bay in the 2002 season, Baltimore in 2000, and San Francisco in 1989.
The Texans are hoping to continue this success. But first, they need a win on Saturday to advance to the AFC championship game for the first time in franchise history, after losing their previous five divisional matchups.
“That’s what you come here for,” Anderson said. “That’s what they’ve been rebuilding for is moments like this… we’ve got all the right pieces, we’ve just got to go out there and make it happen.”
