If I were limited to two thoughts to describe how Texans rookie outside linebacker and No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney looked in his return to action Sunday in their win over the Titans, they would be rusty and out of shape. But mostly out of shape, which is actually good news for the Texans. You would expect Clowney to be out of shape after surgery and rehab, especially game shape, which you can only get by practicing and playing in pads.
Jadeveon Clowney still has to play himself into shape
The No.1 pick of the draft is getting close and will soon be a destructive force for the Texans, but he’s not yet there and still working his way back from a knee injury.
Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
What you had to hope if you are a Texans fan is that he wouldn’t lose some of the good techniques and habits that he had picked up this offseason and prior to the surgery. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t.
I was actually encouraged by much of what I saw from him. You can tell he still doesn’t trust his knee when he stunts inside or makes an inside pass-rush move. But his knee did hold up for him all game. As that continues to happen, I think he will develop more and more trust in repaired knee. That will be a problem for opposing tackles, bruh.
For now, he still has cat-like quickness and reflexes as he showed on his very first play in the game, avoiding the tackle’s cut block attempt and getting his hands up on a quick pass. I also loved seeing Clowney try two “new” speed-rush moves. Early in the game, he tried the “window wiper” hands move where one swipe both of your hands across the blocker’s hands to knock them out of the way. His footwork was a little off so he ended up falling down, but if he can get that move down he is going to be a major problem, and soon.
The second move was a "dent and rip" with his hips turned in toward the quarterback. He took his inside wrist and slapped it down on top of the tackle's inside wrist, then immediately went into a rip under the tackle's outside arm. He beat the hell out of Titans rookie tackle Taylor Lewan and probably would have had the first official sack of his career had he tried to tackle the quarterback rather than chopping at his hand to try to get the ball out.
I will say it was definitely kind of funny watching Clowney on the field for a long drive in the third quarter. He was what we used to call “blowed,” as in tired, boss. The Texans left him in the game because they know the more reps he has, the quicker he will get into game shape. You can see Clowney coming off the ball slower and slower and he starts to get stuck on to blocks he was able to get off of earlier in the game. I will give him credit for this though -- he was still trying to make pass-rush moves even when it looked like he was on his last legs. That’s a good sign to me that he will fight through pain and weariness to still try to make a play for his team.
So, in a nutshell, from what I saw, the next couple of teams on the Texans schedule will probably also get an out-of-shape-trying-to-get-in-shape Clowney lined up across from them, which means he probably won’t be ready to shine his brightest just yet. But after that? He’s gone be trouble, trouble!!!
See More:
