How the Texans Defense Slammed the Door Shut on the Chiefs' Playoff Hopes
On Sunday night, the Texans went into Arrowhead Stadium and all but ended the Chiefs’ season. Houston won their 5th straight game and forced Patrick Mahomes into one of the worst performances of his career. He completed just 14 of 33 passes for 160 yards with no touchdowns and 3 interceptions, finishing the night with a stunning 19.8 passer rating.
Pressure is always the name of the game with Houston’s defense, and it didn’t hurt that the Chiefs were short-handed on their offensive line. They were without both of their starting tackles, right guard Trey Smith, and then lost their replacement left tackle (Wanya Morris) on the first play of the game.
Houston was able to take advantage. They only sacked Mahomes twice but they pressured him on 50% of his dropbacks according to Pro Football Focus.
Mahomes looked rushed all night, and that played a huge role in the Chiefs offense never getting into a rhythm. K.C. couldn’t stay on the field, converting just 4 of 14 third downs and 1 of 3 fourth downs.
Tight Coverage
Equally as instrumental to the Texans’ win was their coverage, which smothered Chiefs receivers and handled their route combinations with ease.
You could see it on this sack just before the end of the first half. The Chiefs faced a 3rd-and-5 and came out in that 1x3 formation they’ve relied on so much over the years with Travis Kelce iso’d to the back side:
The Texans handled the bunch to the right by giving it a little cushion so that they could read the route distribution post-snap. Then, Derek Stingley took the outside vertical, Calen Bullock took the inside vertical, and safety Jalen Pitre took the leftovers:
Bullock would also end up passing off his receiver to the free safety and then falling off in the middle to provide help if needed:
With nowhere to go with the ball to the right, Mahomes turned his attention to the back side, where cornerback Kamari Lassiter had Travis Kelce absolutely locked down. The coverage gave the pass rush time to corral Mahomes for the sack:
Later in the game with 10:22 remaining, the score tied, and Kansas City facing a 4th-and-1, they decided to go for it. This would prove to be the biggest snap of the game.
The play they had called was “Mesh Traffic,” with Hollywood Brown motioning from the right side of the formation to the left before sneaking back out to the right after the snap:
On this concept, the receivers on the right are meant to create picks, rubs, and, well… traffic for Brown’s defender to have to fight through (they used this play to clinch the AFC Championship game a year ago, FYI). The Texans were ready for it, though.
Watch linebacker Henry To’oTo’o follow Brown across the formation and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair fight through traffic to kick out and account for Brown: