There are certain defenses in NFL lore that rise above the rest. Legendary groups that not only reached the mountaintop, but facilitated the climb there. Units that can be defined by a single year -- the '85 Bears, the '00 Ravens -- or a nickname -- 'the Steel Curtain' or 'the Big Blue Wrecking Crew' -- who elicit visions of almost unparalleled dominance and disruption on the gridiron.
For the record, this is the territory that this Houston Texans defense hopes to ascend to this season and beyond. We may not have settled on a top-tier nickname for this unit yet -- after some sleuthing, it looks like 'The Space City Swarm' and 'The No Fly Zone' are the front runners, but I'd like to speak 'The Stampede' into existence, if you don't mind -- but they're trending in a direction where it's worthy of one.