PITTSBURGH – Pain wasn’t going to stop Texans veteran offensive tackle Trent Brown.
Brown was determined to make as speedy a recovery as possible from knee and ankle injuries suffered when he got his leg rolled up during a regular-season win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
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Although Brown pushed the last two weeks to make it back on the field to practice, he was held out as Tytus Howard took his place in the starting lineup at right tackle.
Now, Brown is back for a Monday night AFC wild-card round playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Texans’ offensive line, which hasn’t allowed a sack in three games in a row, is back to full strength and its top configuration with Brown at right tackle, Ed Ingram at right guard, Jake Andrews at center, Howard back to left guard and rookie Aireontae Ersery at left tackle.
In Brown, they get back one of the biggest and most experienced offensive linemen in the league at 6-foot-8 and 380 pounds with a decade of playing experience and 103 career starts.
“I’m playing,” Brown told KPRC 2. “At this point in the season, everybody is dealing with something. Regardless of what you got going on, if you can get out there with a little bit of pain or whatever, you make it shake. You know what I mean? It’s a game for warriors. You just gotta do some warrior s---.”
Brown is accustomed to the pressure of the postseason.
A former Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots playing for legendary coach Bill Belichick, Brown protected the blind side of future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady.
He earned Pro Bowl distinction with the Raiders.
And, now, the Texans are counting on Brown to stonewall the charge of a deep Steelers defense headlined by outside linebacker T.J. Watt along with fellow pass rusher Alex Highsmith.
“I think we feel pretty confident, great week of preparation,” Brown said. “Everybody’s locked in. The game comes with its own ebbs and flows, so we just gotta do our best to stay even-keeled and attack the situations as they come. Their rush, it’s not just one guy, T.J. Watt, everybody knows T.J., but it’s a lot of guys. It’s high stakes.
“This is the challenge for us. Respect and credit to those guys, it’s pretty much an All-Pro defense, from top to bottom. Let’s call a spade a spade.”
Signed to a one-year, $3 million contract this offseason, Brown began the season sidelined as he rehabbed from a torn patellar tendon.
The Texans were patient with his recovery from such a serious injury and Brown worked hard to get back out there.
He has started seven games in the regular season.
Monday night Marks his fifth career playoff game.
Over the course of the season, the Texans offensive line has built a close-knit relationship with each other with a lot of camaraderie.
“Close team, yeah,” Brown said. “We hang out a lot. We talk and text and joke and play a lot. This is probably the closest group I’ve been a part of since 2018.”
A free agent after the season, the Bastrop native would love to be back next year.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We’ll see. I hope so.”
Blocking for quarterback C.J. Stroud, Brown is part of a group that has only allowed him to be sacked 23 times. That’s a career low after a career-high last year under former offensive line coach Chris Strausser.
Stroud has passed for eight touchdowns and two interceptions over the past five games.
“He’s super locked-in,” Brown said of Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. “Even more since he’s come back from the concussion. Just taking his level of preparation and his sense of urgency has gone up a lot more.
“I feel like I saw him flip a switch, and it’s just been on a tear ever since, kinda. I think he’s super locked in. We just gotta do our best to let him do what he does best back there, keep him upright, keep him safe, keep him untouched as best we can.”
After last season, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said it was time for a reset.
The Texans engineered a dramatic overhaul.
They traded five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil and released starting guard Shaq Mason, trading former first-round guard Kenyon Green to the Philadelphia Eagles. They drafted Ersery in the second round, acquired Ingram, signed Cam Robinson, Laken Tomlinson and Brown in free agency.
It took a while for the Texans to settle on their best five linemen.
One of the biggest changes was promoting Cole Popovich to head offensive line coach and run game coordinator. The former Patriots assistant and Dante Scarneccia protege has coached these guys hard and developed an improving line.
“I think the thing about coaching is you set a standard,” Brown said. “And when you set a standard, either they accept the change or whatever is going on in the room, or you gotta move on to somebody else. I think he’s done a hell of a job of creating and setting the standard in the room, and then having some guys that know what it looks like to help spread that message. I think that’s probably been my biggest ability helping to spread that message and show guys what it looks like.”
Brown, 32, has previously played for Belichick and Jon Gruden.
Playing for Ryans, a former Pro Bowl linebacker and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, has provided a boost for Brown.
“I love the accountability that he holds us all to, you know what I mean?” Brown said. “Whether we have a good game, bad game, it’s always things to improve on, and we always go over that in front of the team. I think the accountability, that’s a huge part that a lot of coaches don’t hold, every locker room doesn’t hold.
“To be honest, he probably could still play, Credit to him.(3:41)I think the accountability that he holds us to, he does, and he works out every day.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.