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These kids are all right in secondary
Those young cornerbacks did just fine, thank you very much. Won some. Lost some. Walked off the field as winners.
"Our guys held up great," Texans safety Bernard Pollard. "Now we have to continue to get better."
OK, there's that. There were some breakdowns, especially at the end. There were moments when all that inexperience was exposed.
The Texans are last in the NFL in passing after [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] threw for 433 yards. But numbers can be twisted this way and that. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]got 73 of those yards on a breakdown late in the contest after the Texans had the game in hand.
What the Texans will tell you about Week 1 is they threw the NFL's youngest group of cornerbacks into the fire and came away with a victory against one of the greatest quarterbacks ever.
Plenty of other things factored in. Mario Williams had a huge game, forcing[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] to move around the pocket and make throws under duress. The Texans also kept [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] off the field with some long drives.
And with the Colts charging back into the game, Pollard and Eugene Wilson forced a turnover.
But the bottom line is the Texans threw four cornerbacks with 31 games of NFL experience into the fire. Glover Quin is the old man of the group with 12 NFL starts.
Another second-year player, Brice McCain, got his second start. First-round pick Kareem Jackson got his first, and another rookie, Sherrick McManis, also played.
Quin sets the example
You just knew this group had to be special when the Texans entrusted so much of this season into players with so little experience. They had other options, too. But they weren't especially upset when Dunta Robinson departed via free agency, and Jacques Reeves and Fred Bennett were cut in training camp.
Those three players represented 212 games of NFL experience — 181 more than Quin, Jackson,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], McCain and McManis carried into the Colts' game.
Against [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]? Are you kidding?
"It's not too big for any of them," Texans general manager Rick Smith said.
The thing that may make the cornerback position unique is that raw, physical skills seem to be every bit as important as experience. If a player has enough speed, if he's strong enough to make plays on the ball, if he believes in himself, he has a chance.
That's the thing the Texans kept going back to as they trimmed their roster. They believed their young guys might struggle as they learned the ropes, but the Texans were also convinced these players had a chance to be special and to play together for a long time.
The Texans loved Quin from the moment they began scouting him at New Mexico. He was such a good tackler and such a physical player that some teams projected him as a safety.
Smith and his staff believed Quin could play corner, and he has done that more quickly and far better than they could have imagined. Seeing Quin succeed last season may have given the Texans the courage to go with more youth this year.
The Texans loved Jackson because he'd played in big games at Alabama, because he'd been coached by Nick Saban and seemed NFL ready.
Up for the challenge
As for McCain, his game was speed.
"We've been on him about being a tougher player, and he has grown by leaps and bounds in that area," Smith said. "What you immediately saw was explosiveness."
McManis was a gamble because an injury prevented him from running before the draft. So far, he has passed almost every test.
Experience? Who needs it?
"At the end of the day, I was confident the kids could perform if they did their assignments," defensive coordinator Frank Bush said. "I wasn't worried about big plays going over the top of our head. I just knew ([link widoczny dla zalogowanych]) was going to challenge them. At the end of the day, they did a good job for us. They made some plays. They challenged on third down. They tackled well. It was a learning experience, and we've got a lot to grow from."
Quin talked to the two rookies all week leading up to the game, reminding them [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] would make plays and the key was how they could put the last play behind them and focus on the next one.
"We battled every play," Quin said. "We knew it was going to be a challenge. I felt like we bowed our neck and played. Even when we gave up plays, we didn't get down. We just kept playing."
McCain said: "In camp, we had a lot of hectic situations, and I think it prepared us for the season. Our group is growing up pretty fast."