Case Keenum's first NFL win, Andre Johnson's 1,000th catch, Arian Foster's touchdown pass, Randy Bullock's franchise-high six field goals were all big storylines in Sunday's 25-13 win over Baltimore, but for Week 16, the Texans defense earned a game ball for their team performance.
"We did a good job of setting the edge, building the wall inside," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "The guys on defense, I mean you can't say enough about the way that they tackled and the job that they did. The whole defense got a game ball."
The Texans defense held a fifth-ranked Ravens run game to just 33 yards rushing. Baltimore averaged 132.6 yards per game, heading into Sunday's matchup. Houston allowed just 64 yards of total offense through three quarters. Joe Flacco was picked off three times inside Baltimore territory, and the Texans defense scored 13 points off turnovers. With 34 takeways and 123 points off turnovers, Houston's defense has set franchise records in both categories this season.
There are a lot of factors for everything coming together for the defense this season, according to O'Brien.
"I think the players have really done a good job of communicating and learning the system and all the different packages that we use," O'Brien said. "I believe that the coaches have done a good job of teaching it. I think RAC's (Romeo Crennel) made good calls on game day. I think that these guys are playing very, very hard and they're playing together. They're playing good team defense."
The (8-7) Texans will host the (3-12) Jacksonville Jaguars in the final game of the regular season. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT on CBS KHOU-11 and SportsRadio 610.
