Karen Guregian: Patriots legend Dante Scarnecchia weighs in on how to stop vaunted Texans front

FOXBOROUGH - The Houston Texans defense has devoured several of the game’s best quarterbacks and offenses this season.

Patrick Mahomes (3 INTs), Josh Allen (8 sacks), Justin Herbert (5 sacks) and Aaron Rodgers (4 sacks) didn’t beat the Texans or their defense, and were pretty much left as road kill at game’s end.

The Texans front is scary. Both Will Anderson Jr. (12 sacks) and Danielle Hunter (15 sacks) have been virtually unstoppable. And that’s just the two guys coming off the edge. Defensive coordinator Matt Burke only needs to use his four-man front to wreak havoc. He doesn’t need to send extra rushers.

The defense as a whole boasts speed and are lightning quick getting to the ball no matter who has it. Short passing games haven’t been effective because they’re on top of receivers instantly. The Texans also do a good job devouring running backs at the point of attack.

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How on earth are the Patriots going to deal with that? How are they going to combat that and make sure Drake Maye has enough time to throw, and not get wiped out in the process?

Who better to ask than Dante Scarnecchia, who found a way to keep Tom Brady from harm against Seattle’s vaunted “Legion of Doom” during Super Bowl XLIX as well as other notable defenses during his three-plus decades with the team.

Speaking with MassLive on Wednesday, Scarnecchia agreed the Texans front poses a significant problem.

“That whole defense is pretty ferocious,” Scarnecchia said. “They play a bunch of zone in the secondary. Every one of them is a tackling machine. The linebackers are all over the place.

“The front ... they hit all the numbers with these guys. They’re really good and they’re really well-coached. They play the scheme and they play it really, really well.”

The Patriots legendary coach said there’s no way around edge rushers Hunter and Anderson being possible game-wreckers. So rookie left tackle Will Campbell and veteran right tackle Morgan Moses are going to have to be on point on the flanks, and if they can’t hold up 1-on-1, they’re going to need help.

“They’re exceptional players. If you’re not quite in the right position, or your weight is too far forward, or you’re not using your hands right, they’re going to go by you,” Scarnecchia said of Hunter and Anderson. “They’re just that good. They’re going to go right by you. And if they see you’re having problems with stunts, they’re going to run them at you until the cows come home.

“They’re going to run them until you can block ‘em. If that gave you problems last week, you can bet the farm you’re going to get it early and often this week. But that’s the truth for every team in the league. These guys are just so skilled and so good, they make the problem even bigger.”

Possible solutions?

Scarnecchia said the Patriots could slide added protection - either with a running back or tight end - to one side, helping negate one of the edge guys.

The Texans, however, have defeated that strategy.

The use of play-action passes are another possibility to buy a bit of time.

Maye can also use his legs and move the pocket, rolling out to one side or the other using boot-action. Scarnecchia believes Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels might utilize a lot of misdirection to help give his quarterback a chance.

“The offense isn’t going to change. They’ll bootleg out of there. They give you a lot of misdirection and (Maye) comes out with the ball. They’re going to do things like that,” Scarnecchia said. “There’s going to be times when it’s 5 step (drops), 7 steps, and get the ball out. That’s really going to be the key.

“They can make things a lot easier if guys get open fast, find the holes in the zones, and Drake sees it, which he has done all year.”

Scarnecchia is aware both rookies, Campbell and Jared Wilson, struggled on Sunday night against the Chargers and have been susceptible on occasion to stunts up front.

“No one was complaining about those two until kind of recently, I think. This past game, it was a problem,” Scarnecchia said, acknowledging Maye’s blindside protection was an issue. “There isn’t much doubt the Texans will attack there.

“(Campbell and Wilson) have to be the physical guys that they are and use the skills they have. They’ve used them all year. They’ve blocked these things all year. And now, they have to block them against the best defensive line they’re going to see in a scheme that’s very difficult to block.”

Scarnecchia had no doubt the Patriots left side duo would be put through the paces this week during practice.

“If they run pass protection plays in team periods, I would be shocked if they weren’t running a 100 line stunts at them. All week long,” Scarnecchia said. “Why would you run a straight rush if that’s the problem? Those are the things they have to fix, and they’ll fix ‘em. Those are good coaches.”

Scarnecchia has faith in McDaniels, as well as offensive line coach Doug Marrone and his assistants Jason Houghtaing and Robert Kugler.

“There’s no better coach you’d want on your sideline than Josh. He realizes the problems and he takes it on his shoulders and says: ‘OK, this is what we gotta do,’'’ Scarnecchia said. ”If they need time to throw the ball downfield, it’s going to come off a hardball action where it’s not so much a passing situation. That’s when he’s going to take his shots, and things like that. That’s what good coaches do.”

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