‘That’s what it takes to be a linebacker here,’ Texans’ Henry To’oTo’o delivers hard hits and a message

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Henry To’oTo’o reacted instinctively, trusting his keys and took off on a dead sprint toward the football with one thought in mind: deliver a hard, crisp tackle.

For the Texans’ linebacker to do so, he needed to defeat the blocking interference standing in his way.

To’o’To’o crashed through Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid, sending the 6-foot-4, 240-pound former first-round draft pick flailing to the ground on his back. To’oTo’o didn’t stop after running through the block as he tackled Bills wide receiver Curtis Samuel on a screen play he had immediately diagnosed.

Mic’d up for sound throughout the Texans’ 23-20 victory, the former Alabama standout celebrated the tackle as he ran off the field: ‘Let’s go! That’s me! Come on! Come on!”

To’oTo’o had arguably one of the best games of his career, throwing around his body with controlled aggression.

“That’s what it takes to be a linebacker here,” To’oTo’o told KPRC 2. “Not only do you have to be agile and be able to move around and cover, you have to be a hard hitter.”

To’oTo’o, working in tandem with veteran middle linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair had six tackles against the Bills. And he leads the defense with 38 tackles, including two for losses and one sack while starting every game this season with Christian Harris on injured reserve with a strained calf. Throughout the game, To’oTo’o kept saying to teammates: ‘Whatever you need, all day, I got your back.”

“Henry is doing a really great job,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, a former Pro Bowl linebacker who credited position coach Bill Davis for helping his development after an up-and-down rookie season last year. “Henry had one of his better games this past week. He’s playing physical, he’s playing fast, just all over the field. So, encouraged with his growth and his improvement.”

How Texans linebacker Henry To’oTo’o boosted his tackling and belief: ‘Confidence has been consistent every single day’ (click2houston.com)

To’oTo’o kept showing flashes as a rookie, displaying enough instincts, toughness and knowledge of the defense that the Texans coaching staff trusted him as a regular on defense. He started six of 14 games and recorded 61 tackles and one fumble recovery.

This past game, like every game, wasn’t perfect, but it was another encouraging outing for To’oTo’o, who’s playing a faster, more physical brand of football than his rookie year when he sometimes appeared to be indecisive and thinking too much.

“Obviously, I wish I could do a lot more better, definitely some plays I feel like I left out,” he said. “Consistency is the biggest thing for me, just trying to stack obviously in practice and games on top of games, just trying to get better.”

Where the former fifth-round draft pick occasionally fell short on the field last season was in his tackling form, missing a lot more tackles than he did for the Crimson Tide. He missed 16 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus analytics.

A year later, To’oTo’o is taking better angles toward the football and appears leaner and quicker.

“Tackling, everyone knows I kind of struggled in tackling last year,” To’oTo’o said. “I think that is one of the biggest things that I have harped on this offseason was tracking angles and trying to get better at being a r tackler. I think that has been huge for me this training camp so hopefully it translates on Sundays. ..

“I think it’s just the combination of what I did this offseason with my dad and with my trainer back at home and what I did here with our training staff here is just all accumulated. I call it compound interest, which is when you do good things on top of good things.”

Mentored by Al-Shaair, To’oTo’o has been soaking up his advice about how to play the game, how to prepare, how to do everything it takes to be a complete defensive player.

The influence from an established player has been invaluable after To’oTo’o appeared in 436 defensive snaps last season for 43 percent of the playing time and 192 special teams snaps for 46 percent of the playing time in the kicking game.

“He has been huge,” To’oTo’o said. “I give him a lot of props because he knows how it is supposed to look physically, mentally, he knows what it takes to be a true pro. He has been a huge addition to our room. I try to pick his brain as much as I could and exactly what he is doing, what time he wakes up, what he eats, I try to imitate everything he does because you guys have seen his success. He is a great guy, great leader for us and our defense.”

There are a lot of parallels for To’oTo’o from his experience at Alabama playing for coach Nick Saban to what he’s doing now in the NFL.

And he has made strides in every area, including his conditioning.

“I just worked harder,” he said. “You have to know what it takes to be an NFL pro and I think I have a great support system around me and the guys here, my dad back at home. I think we just trained a lot harder than what we usually do. I think we just trained a lot harder than I did previous seasons.

“I think the biggest thing for me is my body. Keeping my body in tip top shape. Keeping my body the most lean that I can be. Not trying to get too sloppy when practices get harder, keep up with my regimen. I think that is the biggest thing for me.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com