Danielle Hunter Gets Real on Texans' Victory vs. 49ers

The Houston Texans pulled together a winning effort in Week 8 vs. the San Francisco 49ers in a critical home victory to effectively elevate to 3-4 on the year, while showing some notable strength in all three phases of the game.

Defensively, the Texans took care of their usual business. In the 44 plays the 49ers ran, it resulted in just 233 total yards on the day, their lowest mark of the season. Houston brought consistent pressure on quarterback Mac Jones for two sacks and an interception, and allowed just two offensive drives on the day that ended up longer than five plays.

For Texans' veteran edge rusher Danielle Hunter, such a win means a lot, and proves to be a testament of the work done in practice throughout the week.

"It means a lot man," Hunter said, via an interview from KPRC 2's Aaron Wilson. "We've been going through some games where we had ups and downs, and being able to go out there and have offense, defense, and special teams playing together, then the offense controlling the game, it was major."

"During the week, we practiced what we needed to do in the game; focused on the fundamentals, and we went out there and executed."

Danielle Hunter Reveals Biggest Key to Texans' Defensive Success

Sep 15, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) celebrates with defensive end Danielle Hunter (55) after a defensive play during the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Hunter had a statement day for himself in the process of the Texans' Week 8 victory. The veteran edge rusher logged his fourth sack of the year in the fourth quarter of the game on Jones to secure Houston's third win of the season, and effectively keep them just one game under .500 entering the halfway point of the new year.

The key to success for the Texans' defense, for Hunter, started with controlling the edge— which he was a major part of.

"The biggest thing on defense was controlling the edge," Hunter continued. "Covering on defense, covering the back-end, and allow the d-line to rush. We did that. We take pride in stopping the run first, and that's what we did. Then we were able to just rush the passer off of that."

In all, the Texans limited the 49ers to just 10 runs on the day, and left Christian McCaffrey to just 3.1 yards per carry. Those off the edge for Houston did their part in logging two sacks on San Francisco's zero, and made for an all-around solid showing for the first game of a three-game home stand in H-Town.

Hunter, heading into the week ahead, still envisions more to improve upon for Houston that he’ll be sure to unpack in film study. But for the meantime, he sees this one as a step in the right direction for his crew.

"We just go look back at the game, learn from our mistakes, and keeping building off that."

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