by JOHN MCCLAIN, Staff , The Houston Chronicle

Wide receivers/tight ends: Andre Johnson led the NFL with 115 catches for 1,575 yards. He also scored eight touchdowns. Owen Daniels emerged as one of the league's best tight ends with 70 catches for 862 yards. Kevin Walter had 60 receptions for 899 yards and eight touchdowns. There weren't many threesomes better than that. A

Offensive line: Duane Brown, Chester Pitts, Chris Myers, Mike Brisiel and Eric Winston never missed a start. Overall, it was the best performance by a Texans offensive line. They should get better with a season of experience in Alex Gibbs' system. After a rough start against Pittsburgh and Tennessee, Brown showed improvement. Sacks were up from 22 to 32, but some of those were the fault of the quarterbacks and others. For the first time, the line isn't an issue entering the offseason. B-

Defensive line: Mario Williams recorded 12 of the team's 25 sacks. The linemen had 20 of the sacks. Of the 31 sacks in 2007, linemen had 25?, including 14 by Williams. The drop-off was because of Amobi Okoye. He went from 5? as a rookie to one this season. The run defense was worse this season (122.6 to 114.1), and it starts up front. Other than Williams, the biggest bright spot was the emergence of Tim Bulman and DelJuan Robinson, who were undrafted free agents. D+

Linebackers: DeMeco Ryans played with an ankle injury since early in the season but never complained. He finished as the leading tackler with a career-low 112. Zac Diles was leading with 66 when he was injured. Rookie Xavier Adibi was impressive when he was healthy, but he had injury issues from early in training camp. Kevin Bentley played well in place of Diles. This group needs to be improved. C-

Secondary: It's hard to tell about a secondary when there's little pass rush. Dunta Robinson didn't play as well as he will in 2009, but the fact that he came back from career-threatening injuries bolstered the secondary. Jacques Reeves was better than advertised.?Fred Bennett was inconsistent. Once they settled on Eugene Wilson and Nick Ferguson at safety, the secondary improved. Rookie Dominique Barber flashed. Rookie cornerback Antwaun Molden excelled on special teams. C

Special teams: Kris Brown kicked a career-high 29 field goals. He missed four. He had a team-high 117 points. Matt Turk got the most out of his ability. Jacoby Jones returned two punts for touchdowns but had a fumble problem. Andre Davis wasn't the dangerous kickoff returner he was in 2007. Coverage teams were good. B

Coaching: Gary Kubiak and Kyle Shanahan have done a terrific job with an offense that ranked third, committed only four turnovers in the last four games and showed some red-zone muscle in the last game against the Chicago Bears when Shanahan was calling the plays. The running game improved. Turnovers have to be reduced. Defensively, the Texans gave up at least 30 points in six games. The offense put the defense in bad position some of the time. The offense also had more talent. Still, the defense forced only 22 turnovers. Three coaches - Richard Smith, Jon Hoke and Jethro Franklin - were fired. C+

Front office: General manager Rick Smith and his right-hand man, director of Football administration Chris Olsen, will have their hands full signing and re-signing players. Smith and his staff had a good draft led by running back Steve Slaton, left tackle Duane Brown and linebacker Xavier Adibi. The coaches expect a lot out of safety Dominique Barber and cornerback Antwaun Molden. Of the free agents, cornerback Jacques Reeves started every game and played better than most expected. Nick Ferguson improved the safety play. Linebacker Kevin Bentley filled in nicely for the injured Zac Diles. B

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