DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

All-Time Texans Team - Defense - DT

Aug 20, 2008 All-Time Texans, Amobi Okoye is an adult, Awfulness, Frank Okam is an evil genius, Inflamed body parts, Tremendous Busts

You saw the previous discussion of the paucity of talent at defensive end.  You sobbed silently at your desk while discussing free safeties and strong safeties.  You were sure the worst was behind us.  But wait, there’s less!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to talk about Defensive Tackle.

Now, if you’ve been reading this blog for more than about a week, you know that I scream and rant and rave about the need to differentiate between the Nose Tackle and the Under Tackle as two wholly different positions in the 4-3.  And I would love to do that here.  Unfortunately, even though the team ran a 3-4 for YEARS, Frank Okam is the first true two-gap NT we’ve ever had and he’s yet to play a real game, so I can’t hardly just pick him and move on.  Thus, unfortunately, the DTs are getting lumped together.

The candidates:
Seth Payne
Steve Martin
Travis Johnson
Anthony Maddox
Amobi Okoye

*looks at list, throws up*

While he could have been a solid under tackle, Seth Payne was in no way, shape or form a nose tackle, even in a 4-3.  Yet he played the position for years in a 3-4.  Which goes a LOOOOOONG way toward explaining Jamie Sharper’s ridiculous tackle numbers.  Now, to be fair to Payne, he busted his ass for us and played surprisingly well ok. His nine sacks, two forced fumbles, and 196 tackles over five seasons are not HOF numbers, but they are certainly better than nothing.

Despite being almost heavy enough to look like a nose tackle on television, Steve Martin made Seth Payne look like Casey Hampton.  (Side note: That 2003 line of Corey Sears, Steve Martin, and Jerry DeLoach might be the worst front three ever assembled.)

Travis Johnson.  Bah.  In three years (24 starts), Johnson has 1 sack, 1 INT, 78 tackles, and 6 passes defended.  He has never once forced or recovered a fumble.  I’m not even sure how that is possible as a nose tackle, but whatever.  But, hey, at least we didn’t waste a high draft pick on him!  Oh…damn.

Anthony Maddox—a man who was delivering furniture when the Texans called him for a tryout and who only started 3 games last year because he lost his starting gig—has 4 career sacks, a FF, a FR, a 47-yard TD on that recovery, and 53 tackles.  Which makes him better than Steve Martin and Travis Johnson combined.

Amobi Okoye had 5.5 sacks, 32 tackles, and a forced fumble in his only season.  This despite it being painfully clear that he hit a real wall around week 12, which is what happens when you are drafted at 19 freakin’ years old.

Result: I am going with Seth Payne and Amobi Okoye for the all-timers.

*Note: I intentionally left out the guys who are really DEs but would move inside on occasion like Weaver and Smith.