Houston Texans Scoring Thriving With 'Execution, Communication, Discipline'

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans is pointing at discipline as a big reason his team is sixth in points allowed this season.

The Houston Texans have surprised a lot of people so far this season, and the defense being sixth in NFL scoring is one of the reasons why.

Asked about his team's success recently, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans is pointing to discipline as one of the key reasons his defense is doing so well.

"When it comes to the points per game, it's something that we pride ourselves on not allowing teams to get in the endzone," Ryans said. "I think we've done a good job with that over the past couple of weeks and it really comes down to executing and guys just being on the same page when it comes to communication - everybody is where they are supposed to be."

"Everybody plays with great eye discipline. When you do that consistently, especially when it gets tight in the red zone, you're going to keep people out of the endzone."

Houston Texans safety Jalen Pitre (5) celebrates with cornerback Ka'dar Hollman (20) and cornerback Steven Nelson (21) after a fumble recovery against the Atlanta Falcons in the second half at Mercedes Benz Stadium / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Houston's defense has only given up 20+ points three times this year and only once going back to Week 3 and has allowed 13 or fewer twice. 

One key to their success has been a fifth-ranked rush defense allowing just 3.62 yards per carry helping secure the seventh-best redzone defense with just 45.83 percent of opposing trips inside the Texans' 20-yard line resulting in touchdowns.

Where they aren't doing so great is in pass defense where Houston ranks 22nd in yards per play, and on third downs where opponents are converting more than 44 percent of their attempts, ranking the defense 27th so far this season.

The Texans defense gets their next shot at stifling an opposing offense hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9.

Tampa Bay brings in the NFL's 20th-ranked passing offense giving Houston a valuable opportunity to improve upon those pass defense rankings.