Texans rookie coordinator Frank Bush's rushing defense began the season in the deepest of funks. Trampled by the Jets, befuddled by the Titans and punctured by the Jaguars, Houston found itself dead last in the NFL in a statistical category that tends to be seen as a measure of a team's toughness, its elemental grit.

There's nothing fancy, pretty or scientific about stuffing a running play. It's a brute-force, stand-your-ground, may-the-best-man-win kind of thing, and the Texans were losing almost every battle - comically so on occasion. In those first three games, they allowed scoring sprints of 91, 61, 57 and 38 yards among eight rushing touchdowns total. Fifteen times they got burned for gains of 10 or more yards.

Something had to give. Or better, the Texans simply had to stop giving. And they have, mounting a remarkable, almost jaw-dropping reversal that has been all about saving face. Climbing a fourth of the way up the league standings over the last three Sundays - 24th doesn't look nearly so bad when you're coming from 32nd - they held the Raiders, Cardinals and Bengals to less than 50 yards rushing apiece. To put that in perspective, consider this: Texans defenses had done it just four times previously in franchise history.

The Texans gave up 541 rushing yards in the first three games, compared to 135 in the last three, a 75 percent reduction. The opponent's per-play gain? Down from 6.1 yards to 2.5.

"Obviously, we've been excellent," coach Gary Kubiak said. "What are we doing differently? I wouldn't say a whole lot. The bottom line is our defense is just getting better. I think we've eliminated some mistakes and some assignment issues (and) been more sound in what we're doing."

They couldn't have been less sound coming out of the preseason, and a lot of that had to do with the absence of three key figures participating in the recent renaissance. Rookie linebacker Brian Cushing, who has terrorized of late like he's already made Pro Bowl reservations, had to sit out the entire slate of practice games with a sprained knee. Cornerback Dunta Robinson opted not to participate because he thought the team had wronged him financially. And the Texans hadn't yet signed strong safety Bernard Pollard, inexplicably out of work after Kansas City released him.

Praise for Pollard

"Pollard's played very well," Kubiak said. "He's added a new dimension to our defense. But the whole group is playing well. They've all stepped up. We knew with the lineup opening day there was a big risk from the standpoint of those guys not going through camp. For us to get where we needed to be down the road, those guys needed to be there."

Also, up-front downsizing - literally - has made the Texans better, Kubiak suggests.

Smaller but better

"We went small from a (defensive line) standpoint, making us more active," he said, referring to the decision to more frequently utilize the likes of Tim Bulman (275 pounds) and Jeff Zgonina (285) at the tackles - plus end Antonio Smith (295) in some schemes - instead of behemoths Frank Okam (340) and DelJuan Robinson (320).

"We're sitting down some big guys, so we're getting more athletic. But it does scare you, because you are very small. (Cincinnati) had a big offensive line, so some of Frank's calls - stunts and some blitzes and those types of things on first down - were a little different. That's OK as long as you can handle them, and we've handled them so far."

After reining in Cedric Benson, the NFL's leading rusher until the Texans got a hold of him, they confront another stiff challenge Sunday in the person of San Francisco's Frank Gore. A 1,000-yard back each of the last three seasons, Gore gored Seattle's defense in Week 2 for 207 yards on just 16 carries, including an 80-yard touchdown sprint. Gore was hurt in the following game against Minnesota and hasn't played since, but he is expected to be at or near 100 percent for the Texans , who can't afford to get cocky.

Two threats from Niners

They must remember where they've come from, and a quick glance at the stat sheet will accomplish that. For all their progress, the Texans' yield of 4.9 yards per running play remains worse than that of all except two teams, and they're the only defense so far to have given up as many as 10 touchdowns on the ground.

"This team (San Francisco) is very physical," Kubiak said. "They've got two good backs. The (Glen) Coffee kid has played really well, too. We're going to get challenged again up front with the run. We know that."

The prospect seems far less worrisome than it would have been a month ago.

dale.robertson@chron.com

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