Jadeveon Clowney saw his most extensive playing time of the season during Sunday's loss to Cincinnati. And his head coach thought the rookie "did a nice job overall" against the Bengals.
"I thought some of it was good," Bill O'Brien said on Monday. "Certainly there is improvement to be made there, just like every player. I thought he played hard."
Clowney finished with a trio of tackles, and one of those was for a loss. At the start of the third quarter on a second down run at the goal line, Clowney dropped Jeremy Hill for a loss of a yard. In all, Clowney was on the field for 49 snaps on defense. As a unit, the Houston defense was on the field
for 81 snaps.
The first overall pick in the 2014 Draft started for the second time this season, and played in his fourth game of the year. He left the Week 1 win over Washington with a knee injury that would later require surgery. He missed the next six games, played at Tennessee in Week 8, and then missed Week 9's contest against the Eagles. Clowney said he felt "alright" physically after the loss to the Bengals, but wasn't making the impact he wanted.
"Some things are holding me back still, but I'm just out here trying to do what I can do and have fun," Clowney said.
O'Brien saw some encouraging moments, though, from Clowney.
"I thought he had some plays in there that affected the game in a good way, in a positive way," O'Brien said. "I thought he hustled. I can remember on play in particular where he really did a good job of going down there and tackling a look pass down there in the red area."
Clowney and the Texans have Tuesday off, and will get back to practice on Wednesday at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
