Texans DB Jalen Pitre Reveals 2 Areas He Wants to Improve After Rookie Debut
The debut of Houston Texans rookie safety Jalen Pitre against the Indianapolis Colts ended unpredictably in more ways than one when the AFC South rivals faced off at NRG Stadium on Sunday.
The 20-20 tie was just the fourth in a season opener since the NFL and AFL merger in 1970.
Maybe less unexpected though was Pitre's ability as a play-maker in the secondary, as he proved why the Texans used a second-round pick on him in April. He totaled the third-most tackles on the team (11) and nearly had an interception off Colts quarterback Matt Ryan.
Pitre enjoyed finally getting in on some real action but clearly wasn't satisfied when assessing his debut performance with the media Tuesday.
"It was a fun game, I enjoyed it," he said. "Feel like the defense was flying around, had a lot of fun out there with those guys. But there's a lot of things that I want to clean up going into Week 2, specifically my tackling. Second, my patience and my reads. I think those two are the two biggest things that I'm looking to improve on come game two."
Facing a former MVP quarterback like Ryan already made for a challenging debut for Pitre. But the signal-calling talent he'll be facing over the next two weeks is a major step up from an aging Ryan.
Pitre and the Texans will travel to Mile High for a Sunday matchup with the Denver Broncos and quarterback Russell Wilson, who will be looking to put a beating on a young and susceptible Houston secondary after falling to his former team in the Seattle Seahawks Monday night.
Pitre, 23, was still in junior high when Wilson first joined the league, as the former Super Bowl-winning Seahawk has been dominating the NFL for over a decade now.
And while Pitre made sure to give his respect to the future Hall of Famer, he kept the compliments short and showed a clear intent to not make the occasion bigger than it was.
"[I watched him] a lot of times," Pitre said. "I think Russell Wilson is a great quarterback, a great leader, and I'm excited to play against him this week."
Like the Pitre, the Seahawks dropped two would-be interceptions in Week 1, as Wilson threw some questionable passes that were dropped by the defense.
Pitre is once again fixing to be a constant presence in the Houston secondary for Week 2, and, headed into the game, he's focused on learning from his own dropped interception positively.
"In terms of my interception, I think I could've just zoned in on the ball a lot more and not worry about the tight end as much as I did," Pitre said. "I think I could've executed and made the interception on that play. That's something I want to improve on and plays like that are gonna happen, so I'm not really dwelling on that too much."
Dwelling on the mistakes could be a mistake against a young and talented Broncos receiving corps of Cortland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy. Pitre will likely also to deal with the Denver running back duo of Melvin Gordon III and Javonte Williams, who could find themselves getting to the second level of the secondary much like Colts running back Jonathon Taylor did on Sunday.
The Texans might be "undefeated," but a win in Denver will be far from easy.
Luckily for the Houston defense, Pitre is already learning from his mistakes as he looks to apply these lessons during the toughest test yet of his young career.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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