CORPUS CHRISTI â€" The most valuable part of the Houston Texans' offense isn't Matt Schaub or Andre Johnson or Arian Foster, it's their offensive line, and it's been that way for a few years now. It was 2008, to be exact, when the Texans' made a franchise defining shift in their offensive philosophy. With the hiring of Alex Gibbs as an assistant offensive coach, Houston adopted the zone blocking scheme that made late-1990's and early-2000's Denver Broncos so successful.
In the two seasons preceding Gibbs' hiring, Ron Dayne was Houston's leading rusher, going for 612 yards in 2006 and 773 yards in 2007. Since then the Texans have gone on a run of having unheralded commodities turn into 1,000-yard rushers in the blink of an eye. In 2008, in Houston's first year with Gibbs, rookie Steve Slaton went from a third-round pick to a 1,200-yard rusher that averaged as many yards per carry as Adrian Peterson.
The 2009 season was an outlier, as Slaton took an unbelievable turn for the worse due to a case of fumbilitis that ruined his confidence and essentially ended his career. Gibbs also left for Seattle after that season (and retired a year later) but his principles remain strong in the Texans' organization. Two seasons ago it was Arian Foster, an undrafted practice squad product, that burst onto the scene with an obscene and league leading 1,616 rushing yards and 16 TDs thanks to Houston's incredibly well put together offensive line. Despite some hamstring issues, Foster followed that up last season with another 1,224 yards on the ground.
Foster is the one that gets all of the love and he's the guy standing next to a unicorn on ESPN's the Magazine's Fantasy Football issue, not Duane Brown. But it is important to note that Foster wouldn't be remotely the same player he's recognized as without Houston's offensive line. As much as evident in the performance of his back-ups. Derrick Ward. a former seventh round pick who is no longer in the league, averaged 6.3 yards per carry on 50 rushes as Foster's back-up in 2010 and Ben Tate, who acted as Foster's back-up for 12 games and his fill-in for another three last year, almost crossed the 1,000-yard plateau himself on 100 fewer carries. Tate had 942 yards on a 5.4 yards per carry average and in his three games as the primary back, Tate had 295 yards on 59 carries (5YPC). Not to take anything away from Foster, but if you took the Texans' offensive line away from Foster, he'd be a much different player.
The relationship between running back and offensive line put Houston in a quandary this off-season and they made an interesting decision to hand Foster a five-year, $43.5 million deal with $20.75 million guaranteed. Houston could have tendered him at $2.7 million, placed the franchise tag on him or even let him go if a team offered him a big deal while tendered (Houston would have gotten that team's first round pick in exchange for Foster). Instead, they gave Foster a ton of money, which is not a wise decision given how durable running backs are nowadays, and compromised the line that helped earn him all that cash (as well as the defensive line, with Mario Williams going to Buffalo because the Texans couldn't pay him).
Right tackle Eric Winston and right guard Mike Brisiel are both gone now, forcing Houston to put two inexperienced players on the power side of their line. Winston was far and away the best run blocking right tackle in the AFC last year but the Texans couldn't afford to match what the Chiefs offered him because they gave so much money to Foster. Brisiel wasn't quite as good, but he had been with the team since 2006 and had filled in nicely throughout his career before earning a more permanent starting job recently. They are being replaced by Derek Newton, who will start at right tackle, and Antoine Caldwell, who will start at right guard. Houston did pony up to re-sign Chris Meyers, who is easily the best center in football and a perfect middle man for the zone blocking schemes, but having inexperienced and less talented players on the right side of the line may pose problems for the Texans this season.
Houston hopes that, much like in basketball with a defensive zone, their blocking schemes are able to limit the impact the individual talent level of their right guard and tackle has on the game and instead allows them to mesh in easily with the group concept. It's possible, but losing Winston and Brisiel also hurts their depth, which will have an effect on the team late in games. The Texans also lost their backup right tackle, a player their offensive line coach says has starting potential, Rashad Butler. Right after Butler lost the competition for the starting right tackle spot to Newton, he tore his right triceps muscle in an ironic twist of fate: He had the same injury to his left triceps last year. With Butler out for the year, Houston will have to settle for a waiver wire-level tackle in Ryan Harris to swing between the sides this season.
Having to spend their available resources replacing the right side of their line also prevented the Texans from replacing guard Wade Smith, who was the weak link of the line last year. Third-round pick Brandon Brooks will add depth at the guard spot but the 350-pounder figures to stay on the right side of the line. Perhaps if Smith's performance dips even further than it did last year then we'll see Brooks shift to the left side, but for now it appears as if Houston will have a hole at that spot. At the all important position of left tackle, Duane Brown acts as the anchor of the line. Brown was the only tackle in football that played over 500 snaps and didn't allow a single sack last season. That on top of being a decent run blocker and one of the best screen blockers in the league. Brown is one of the best blindside protectors in football.
It's a relatively sure bet that Houston will have one of the most effective front fives in the league this season simply because Brown and Meyers are two of the best in the business and the coaching staff always has their players prepared to execute their schemes correctly. That said, an injury to any of their starters or a poor season from any of their new components could hamper the effectiveness of the line, which, again, is the most important part of their offense. And any regression upfront will have a snowball effect on the rest of the offense.
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