The Houston Texans boast one of the best defenses we’ve seen this decade. Seriously, think of some of the best defenses of the 2020s – 2023 Baltimore, 2025 Philadelphia, etc. – none of them are doing what the Texans are doing this year. Through 13 games, the Texans are allowing 16.0 points per game, the lowest total since the 2019 Patriots gave up 14.4.

Their points total might not even be the most impressive part of their resume. They have made some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, including MVPs Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, look like complete fools. Two of their last three games have come against Mahomes and Allen, and they’ve given up just 313 yards and 0 touchdowns while forcing five interceptions and sacking them 10 times.

How have they been able to do it? I took a deep dive into each performance to get an idea of how the best defense in the league has shut down two former MVPs.

How the Texans shut down Josh Allen

Two weeks ago, the Texans hosted the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football and came out on top with a thrilling 23-19 victory. Josh Allen completed 24 of his 34 attempts for 253 yards, but didn’t throw a single touchdown and turned it over twice. This game, it was all about the pass rush.

The Texans’ defense recorded 35 pressures in this game. That is not a typo. Allen dropped back 46 times in this game, and Houston’s defense was all over him. When Allen was pressured, he went 4-for-9 with 116 yards and one interception while being sacked eight times for 70 yards.

The X-factors in this game were the Texans’ star pass rushers, Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. The duo combined for 19 pressures, 13 hurries and 4.5 sacks. They completely terrorized Josh Allen throughout the game, including on the Bills’ potential game-winning drive, where they both sacked Allen once. And on the final play of the game, where the Texans sealed it with an interception, Anderson was all up in Allen’s face, forcing him to throw it earlier than he wanted.

But I can’t give all the credit to the pass rush, the Texans’ secondary was exceptional, too. Outside of Jaylen Reed, who gave up nine catches for 119 yards, the rest of Houston’s secondary combined to give up 15 receptions for 101 yards while picking off two passes. Calen Bullock was the star of the game, but everyone contributed in one way or another.

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It felt like this was the Texans’ peak. There’s no way their defense could’ve played any better, right?…Right?

How the Texans shut down Patrick Mahomes on SNF

Well, they did just that on Sunday night. Somehow, they were even better this week than they were a couple weeks ago against Buffalo. They locked Patrick Mahomes down, holding him to 160 yards and zero touchdowns while throwing three interceptions. But there’s so much more than that.

This was the lowest home points total of the Mahomes era. It was also the first time he was shut out in the first half in Arrowhead. He also went 10 consecutive passes without throwing a completion, the longest streak of his career. He also posted career-worsts in EPA per drop back (-0.54), completion percentage (42.4 percent) and passer rating (19.8). It was the worst game of his career, but if you looked at the stats prior to this game, it really isn’t all that surprising. The Texans have been QB killers all year, so there was no reason to expect Mahomes to be great.

While the Buffalo game was all about the pass rush, this game was more about the secondary. They were locking things down on the back end. Mahomes certainly didn’t play his best game, but he was still making big throws when someone did get open. That just hardly ever happened. Rashee Rice, Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy all struggled to create space, and when you’re playing a team like Houston, which is very opportunistic, throwing into tight windows every play is going to cost you eventually, and it did three times on Sunday.

This performance was also a product of the Chiefs just making mistakes, and that’s what happens when you play a team like Houston. They frustrate the hell out of you, so when you finally have opportunities to make a play, sometimes you just don’t. There were a few examples of this, particularly late in the game on Sunday.

With two minutes left in the third quarter, the Chiefs were down three and had the ball on the 23-yard line. It was 3rd-and-2, and Mahomes threw a little flat route to Kareem Hunt. He threw it a bit early and behind him, but he probably still should’ve caught it, and it would’ve been an easy first down. Instead, they settled for three.

Then, at the start of the fourth quarter, Mahomes had an open Hollywood Brown downfield, but just underthrew it right to the defender for an interception. Then, a couple of drives later, after Houston took a 17-10 lead, Mahomes threw it to Rice on fourth down, hit him in the hands, and he just flat out dropped it. And finally, on their second-to-last drive, still trailing by seven, Mahomes hit Kelce in the hands on second down, and he flipped the ball up in their air, and it was picked.

There was also some questionable decision-making, mainly Andy Reid’s decision to go for it on 4th-and-4 from their own 41-yard line with 5:31 left on the clock and two timeouts. Their defense had been playing well all night, but Reid went for it, and Mahomes was pressured by Will Anderson before Derek Stingley broke up the pass. This was the first time Reid had ever gone for it on fourth down inside their own 45-yard line in a tie game.

“They did a good job of passing off the crossers,” Mahomes said after the game. “I tried to get the ball to Rashee [Rice]. I think I was a little late. They made a great play breaking on the ball. We have to execute at a higher level in those big moments. It’s something we haven’t done this year.”

Another thing that great defenses can do that frustrates the hell out of an offense is take away big plays. Mahomes threw a beautiful deep ball to Tyquan Thornton, which looked like an easy touchdown late in the third quarter, but Kamari Lassiter made an incredible play to recover and get his hand in the perfect spot to break up the pass. Instead of taking a 14-10 lead, the Chiefs settled for three and tied the game at 10.

Houston’s defense didn’t have to get after Mahomes all night (though they still did late in the game) because their secondary came through. And the frustration the built up all game showed itself late. When the Chiefs had opportunities to make plays in the fourth quarter, they just couldn’t, because they didn’t believe they could against this defense, which had locked them down all night.

Can Houston’s defense carry them through the playoffs?

It’s time to put some numbers behind Houston’s defense, so you can fully understand just how good they are. As a team, they rank first in points per game allowed (16.0), first in yards per game allowed (266.3), fourth in passing yards allowed (172.0), sixth in rushing yards allowed (94.3) and seventh in sacks per game (2.8).

On an individual level, they have two of the most efficient pass rushers in the league in Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, who rank third and sixth in pressures, respectively, and both have over 10.0 sacks in 13 games. They also have three players, Derek Stingley, Caleb Bullock and Jalen Pitre, who have 3+ interceptions this season. Bullock also leads the NFL in completion percentage allowed (40 percent) among players with 100+ coverage snaps.

Early in the season, Houston’s defense was being completely wasted. They started 2-4, but have since gone 6-1 to put themselves in the AFC playoff picture as the 7-seed. Their offense has started to come around, but there are still a ton of question marks. Primarily, is C.J. Stroud actually good enough to lead them through the playoffs?

In 2025, Stroud is averaging 218.1 yards per game and 1.2 touchdowns, while throwing six interceptions. But those numbers are a bit inflated from their blowout victory over Baltimore, when the Ravens were decimated by injuries and playing like one of the worst teams in the league. Without that game, Stroud’s averages drop to 215 yards and 0.9 touchdowns per game.

Since Stroud returned from his concussion, he’s led the Texans to back-to-back wins over the Colts and Chiefs. That’s no easy task, but he still needs to be better if they really want to challenge for the Super Bowl. Just take the second half of last night’s game, for example. The Texans went three-and-out four straight times to start the half. Stroud also completed a total of three passes in the final 30 minutes. One of them was a huge 3rd-and-17 completion after he escaped a sack, which set up a late touchdown, so I will give him credit for that. But that won’t be enough in the playoffs, especially because they’re more than likely going to have to travel for every game in the postseason.

The Texans have the best defense in the league, and right now, they are very healthy. You cannot waste a year like this. Stroud and the offense need to get things going because if they were a slightly above-average offense, they’d be Super Bowl favorites with their defense.

Just look at Denver. They’re 11-2 with the No. 14 scoring offense. They haven’t been great offensively, but they’ve come through in big moments. Houston is currently the No. 20 scoring offense. If they can just score a few more points per game and Stroud can consistently deliver in the fourth quarter, absolutely nobody will want to play them in the postseason.