Texans hoping Smith supports Williams

HOUSTON - Mario Williams has become a ferocious pass rusher in his three NFL seasons.

Too bad the Texans haven't had any pressure coming from the opposite end since he was drafted.

Antonio Smith is hoping to change that in his first year in Houston after helping Arizona to the Super Bowl last season.

The defensive end joined Williams and the rest of the Texans for the first time this week after missing the first week of practices with an injured hamstring.

He can't wait to play with the right end who was drafted first overall in 2006, and believes they'll help each other.

"I watched him and teams like to double team him," Smith said. "So that must mean I'm going to get single teamed most of the time so hey, I'll have fun and once teams realize you can't single team either one of us, they're going to have to find a way to get us blocked."

Williams had 53 tackles and 12 sacks last season despite dealing with near constant double teams playing opposite Anthony Weaver. Weaver was released in the offseason after getting just one sack in three years with the team.

Smith is also an upgrade over Weaver in size. Weaver is about 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds. Smith is 6-4 and about 290, a perfect complement to Williams at 6-7 and 291 pounds.

"He's a big, strong player," coach Gary Kubiak said of Smith. "It's not like we have a small end and a big end now. We've got two pretty good sized bodies out there."

A fifth-round pick in 2004, Smith joins a line full of first-round draft picks. Along with Williams, the Texans have tackles Amobi Okoye (10th in 2007) and Travis Johnson (16th in 2005).

Smith had had 41 tackles and 3½ sacks last season and has 125 tackles and 14½ sacks in his five-year career.

For now Smith is trying to get a feel for the team and learn the defense. After he gets his bearings, Kubiak plans to move him around some, letting him rush from the inside and drop back in coverage occasionally.

It's a role Smith is comfortable with after the Cardinals used him in much the same way in most of his five seasons with the team.

"I've never really done just one thing my whole career," he said. "It's like second nature to me. Once I learn the technque they want me to use, I think I'll be fine. I know how to do it all."

Kubiak can't wait to see how Williams and Smith can work together this season.

"He's the big, strong, powerful guy opposite of Mario," Kubiak said. "He helps us with the tight end and those types of things, not letting them off the line of scrimmage. He can go inside and rush the passer, which I saw him do throughout the playoffs very effectively. So he's a key and that's why we brought him here."

Smith started three of Arizona's four playoff games last season and had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the Cardinals Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh. That experience could be invaluable for a team still looking to make its first playoff trip.

The 27-year-old has plenty of advice for his teammates, but he'll hold back until he's been with the team a bit longer.

"I've been trying to feel everybody out," he said. "There are some things that I would say, about how to get deep into the playoffs that I learned in the last year. But everything I saw on our team, I see on this team."