‘Very proud of Sting,’ how Texans corner Derek Stingley Jr. is having a Pro Bowl caliber year, just ask CeeDee Lamb

HOUSTON – Shadowing Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb step for step, stride for stride, move for move, Texans standout cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. displayed textbook coverage techniques.

After the game, Stingley received a game ball and verbal acknowledgement from Texans coach DeMeco Ryans. Ryans’ confidence and faith in the former LSU consensus All-American was justified by his performance as he traveled with Lamb several times during a 34-10 blowout victory.

Ryans hasn’t always had Stingley run with opponents’ most dangerous wide receiver. This time, he did, though. Stingley limited Lamb, a Foster graduate, to two catches for 19 yards with one interception and three passes defended on 17 routes in single coverage, according to Next Gen Stats.

“Locked down all night,” Ryans said inside the Texans’ victorious postgame locker room. “Great job, Sting.”

For the season, Stingley has two interceptions and has allowed just 28 receptions for 277 yards and one touchdown on 60 targets against him. Opposing quarterbacks have a 46.7 completion percentage against Stingley, a former third overall pick, with a 51.9 quarterback rating, 4.6 yards per target and 9.9 yards per completion and just 104 yards after the catch.

Targeting Stingley is simply a poor business decision for offensive coordinators and quarterbacks. He has 36 tackles, 12 passes defensed and two tackles for losses one year after intercepting a career-high five passes and being snubbed for the Pro Bowl as an alternate.

Perhaps Stingley will be named to the Pro Bowl this season outright.

“What allows Sting to have a lot of success is just him being locked in on his technique,” Ryans said. “Not making it bigger than it is, and just going out and executing. He understood the challenge on their best player and he stepped up to the challenge and made plays all night. Very proud of Sting and how he has continued to grow as a professional and having a really great year for us. Really proud of Sting.

Lamb has 67 catches for 774 yards and four touchdowns this season as one of the few standouts on a bad Cowboys squad. Although he finished with a game-high eight catches for 93 yards, he did his damage away from Stingley.

True to his low-key personality, Stingley didn’t gloat about getting the best over Lamb.

“It was all right,” Stingley said. “I left a couple of plays out there, but it was a good defensive performance.”

Stingley intercepted Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush in the first quarter as his errant throw went right to him after a Lamb route was disrupted by safety Jimmie Ward. No flags. Interception, Texans football. And the Texans capitalized on the miscue with their second touchdown of the game.

“Stingley, really great job in coverage all game,” Ryans said. “And we get the pick, that was big-time for us.”

In the second half, the Cowboys were shut out completely.

Unlike the previous week against the Detroit Lions, the Texans held on for a decisive victory.

“I think it’s ore the previous games defensively, just not playing how we normally play,” Stingley said.

Stingley shadowed Chicago Bears standout wide receiver D.J. Moore into a state of extreme frustration as his body language and facial expressions showed how he felt about being locked up earlier this season.

Stingley tends to have that demoralizing effect on wide receivers as one of the top cover corners in the NFL. Stingley intercepted a sideline pass intended for Moore and blanketed him for three catches for seven targets and 18 yards in the second half of the Texans’ 19-13 victory.

The decision to shadow or not shadow is strategic. Ryans won’t necessarily deploy Stingley that way every time. He’ll mix it up. At times, Stingley simply stays on one side. It takes a ton of energy to run presnap every play, too. Plus, the Texans get back rookie cornerback Kamari Lassiter back this week from a concussion.

“For me, it’s all game-plan specific,” Ryans said. “I don’t get in the game plan specifics of what we’re doing. We’re on a week-to-week basis. It always changes. So, there are no absolutes on how we deploy our guys on defense. Stingley has done a great job with everything that we’ve asked him to do. He’s continued to grow as a player. Made a lot of big-time plays for us and I look for Stingley to continue to do that.

“He’s gaining a lot of trust in everybody just by showing up each and every week and when there is a quote-on-quote difficult matchup, he thrives in those moments no matter who he’s going against. So, we have a corner who has that mentality, not only him but with the mentality of Stingley and also the mentality of Kamari, two really good young corners who will line up and play against anybody.”

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Stingley will be eligible for a contract extension after this year and is expected to ultimately be one of, if not, the highest paid cornerbacks in the NFL along with New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner.

“Sting is nice, bro,” Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “I’ll tell him – because him and Kamari play catch before practice every Friday, and I always sit there and I just watch him. God got his hand on him at a young age because he’s the most talented football player I’ve ever been – other than [New York Jets wide receiver] Garrett Wilson, him and Garrett Wilson are the two most talented players I’ve ever been around in my life.

“So, when you just talk about just raw instincts, ability just to speed up when you need to, slow down when you need to, ball skills. He flies off the charts. And he’s just so cool and calm and collected. He doesn’t let anything rattle him. He got a lot of backlash from his rookie year and people didn’t know he was fighting an injury and things like that. But for him to bounce back his sophomore year and now this year to double it again. I told him, ‘He’s going to be a pretty wealthy dude here, soon.’ And he’s with my agent (David Mulugheta) now, too, which is amazing. But, also, he’s a good person.”

The trust the coaching staff places in Stingley is obvious, especially when he’s asked to shut down a top receiver and run step for step and match their moves and athleticism.

Skill. Toughness. Athleticism. Instincts. Feisty streak.

Stingley is as serious as they come when it comes to football and he constantly displays intensity and body control.

In his second NFL season last year, Stingley was dominant after returning from a hamstring injury.

All of Stingley’s coverage skills were on display late last season as the Texans’ talented cornerback shut down passing lanes to lead the NFL with three interceptions in December and nine passes defensed while allowing an astoundingly low 1.7 passer rating when targeted by opposing quarterbacks. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Month for the first time.

“I actually think Sting is, and I won’t even shake when I say that, I think he’s one of the best DBs in the league,” said injured wide receiver Stefon Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowl selection. “Especially from talent level. He’s fast. He can run. He can break and he’s competed at a high level throughout his career.”

Read more on the Texans:

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• Source: Texans signing guard Tremayne Anchrum Jr. to practice squad
• Texans designate corner Jeff Okudah, defensive end Jerry Hughes for return from injured reserve
• Source: Texans worked out linemen La’el Collins, Tremayne Anchrum Jr, Ike Boettger, Jerome Carvin, DB Jason Taylor
• Texans rookie Jamal Hill honored by official proclamation in Georgia hometown
• Texans’ Kenyon Green dislocated left shoulder, to be placed on IR, Kendrick Green steps in, Will Anderson Jr. ankle hurt
• ‘I know I have to step up, I know I have shoes to fill,’ Texans’ Tank Dell in spotlight after Stefon Diggs’ torn ACL
• Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr. is the AFC Defensive Player of the Month
• ‘I’m just trying to be that light as much as I can,’ Texans nickel Jalen Pitre nabs first interception since rookie year

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