Texans coach Gary Kubiak has heard about the Jaguars’ defensive line complaining about cheap shots in Sunday’s game, and he has a response.
Get over it.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Kubiak said cut blocks are and will continue to be part of the Texans’ offensive line’s approach.
“It’s just part of what we do,” Kubiak said. “We think to be good at running the football, you’ve got to do the little things in the run game, especially on the back side that create space for your players. It’s just something that we think is important to being successful.”
The NFL’s rule against illegal chop blocks is often misunderstood, even by NFL linemen. Cut blocks are legal. It’s even legal for an offensive lineman on a running play to engage a defensive lineman and then have a second offensive lineman come in and hit the defensive lineman low. It only becomes illegal if the two offensive players engaged in the high-low blocks weren’t lined up next to each other on the offensive line. So it’s legal with a center and a guard, but illegal with a center and a tackle.
Kubiak spent many years as an assistant in Denver when the Broncos’ offensive line was always accused of taking cheap shots, and he brought the same style of blocking with him to Houston -- and that style of blocking is legal. If defensive linemen don’t like it, they should be lobbying the NFL to change the rules. As long as it’s legal, it’s going to be part of the Texans’ offense.