Through the first seven games of the season, the Houston Texans have struggled with one of the most fundamental things in all of football – tackling.
That is why Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans had Houston start their practice on Wednesday with tackling drills.
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“He took us back to Pee Wee Ball. He had all of us line up on 35-yard line and in line and one person was on their knees. The other person was standing up and when he said, ‘Hit’, and you drive and wrap and squeeze and then you get up, stand up five yards apart, go tackle the man, drive for five yards,” All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson said. “Whatever it takes to get the job done. Football was played differently back then and how it is now and he’s reteaching us. Like, ‘No, you have to go put your body on people. You just can’t go to the side and just jump off the diving board and just think of all the tackles going to work in this league.’ You have to put body on body, I think that’s the area that we continue to clean up and get these guys on the ground.”
Missed tackles were actually a problem last season. In 2025, the Texans averaged nearly six missed tackles a game, whereas this season, they average under five missed tackles per game. Perhaps why it is getting so much attention this year is because the defense is missing tackles on explosive plays, leading to points for opposing teams and multiple losses for Houston.
