The Houston Texans offensive line has had its depth tested since the second week of training camp, but the five-man unit continues to find ways to thrive.
According to Zoltan Buday from Pro Football Focus, the Texans’ offensive line ranked as the 15th-best blocking unit entering Week 7. Largely the Texans’ placement in the top half of the NFL is due to their pass-blocking, wherein Houston is ranked sixth-best in the league.
After allowing 10 pressures in the first two games of the season, right guard Shaq Mason has surrendered just two over the past four games. He has allowed pressure on 1.5% of dropbacks over that span, which is the fourth-lowest rate among guards.
PFF considers left tackle Laremy Tunsil to be the best player on the offensive line with an 88.2 pass-blocking grade, which is the third-best among tackles the past two weeks.
What has helped the Texans is, not only the return of Tytus Howard, but the serviceable play of tackle George Fant. Houston is able to leave Fant at right tackle and use Howard’s versatility to plug left guard, where they have played Josh Jones and Kendrick Green following the season-ending injury to second-year guard Kenyon Green.
Run blocking remains an area for improvement. The Texans have the third-lowest yards per carry in the NFL at 3.2.
