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The "New" Houston Texans Defensive Mentality

Growing up as a fifth generation Houstonian/Galvestonian with blue collar roots, it is hard to not be a Houston pro football fan. I spent my Sunday's wearing love ya blue P.J.'s and cheering Earl and the boys.

I had a tendency to always lean towards the defensive side of the ball as a kid. My favorite Oiler was and still is Ray Childress. Not because I met him in my dad’s restaurant when I was 10(Never forget how small my hand was when he shook it) or because I was a huge fan of the Aggie wrecking crew, but because he was in the trenches fighting to stuff every play any team could throw at him.

I feel that having an elite D is way more preferable to an elite O. I consider the Texans to have an Elite Offense, and in my humble opinion, we have the building blocks to turn the table.



It all starts with....



Leadership!

Being the best is all about having the right leadership. Leading from the front. I had the privilege of spending 4 years in the United States Marine Corps in the Infantry. (The world’s finest fighting force) My mentor was SSgt. Robert Tagliabue.(Now Gunner Tagliabue) (If the last name sounds familiar it is because his uncle is the former commissioner of the NFL)

Ssgt. Tag was an exceptional leader. His mentality was, we will be the best Machinegun section in the world. Not second, FIRST! We will work harder than everyone else. We will train smarter than everyone else. We will master our craft. We will knock the piss out of anyone that gets in our way. He never yelled (much) and was generally a man of few words. But he was harder than wood pecker lips, would charge hell with a bucket of water, put out the fire, whip the devil's ass, and then crack a joke afterwards while pissing on the ashes. When he talked, everyone listened because he was the man. His words were gold and he had the "swagger". He always led from the front and never asked you to do anything he would not do himself.

Because of his leadership, I truly believe that we were the hardest and badest machinegun section in the Marines. The reason is, we followed his lead, did what he did and said, and BELIEVED.

That is the same mentality that Elite defenses in football have. Look at the best throughout history. They have a solid leader or two that set the tone. It starts and ends with leadership.

I am starting to get that feeling in our young Defense. Now we have a long way to go to be elite, but the leadership looks like it is developing.

Here are two leaders that I feel are setting the tone along with some attribute’s that I am feel will help set the "NEW" mentality of our Defense.

DeMeco Ryans

Leader

Work ethic

Set the example

Professional

Intensity

Consistency

Elite

Student of the Game

Bernard Pollard

Bone Crusher

Intensity

Swagger

Confidence

More Intensity

Killer Mentality

Tenacious

Hard Core

Your thoughts????

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