Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images
What changes have the Texans made to make this year better than the last?
Entering the 2025 NFL season, the
Houston Texans find themselves right in the middle of a golden era. Defined by quarterback C.J. Stroud and head coach DeMeco Ryans, this era of Texans football has been a hallmark of success, a particularly impressive feat considering the amount of transition the entire franchise has gone through since Ryans was hired in January 2023. Nothing epitomizes the pace in which Houston has become a contender more than the team-wide desperation for a
Super Bowl while most of the starters are still on their rookie contracts. Although, that pivotal 2023 draft class will be entering their third year on their rookie contracts, so if negotiations haven’t already started between the top picks and the Texans on a second contract, then they will be very soon.
The hype both inside and outside of the building couldn’t be higher, and with the aforementioned star players on rookie contracts soon to be expiring, the stakes couldn’t be higher in this pivotal third year, but of course, that isn’t to say Houston wasn’t challenging for a championship previously.
Going as far as the divisional round two years in a row has to be a good omen for a roster full of young players, but both 2023 and 2024 Texans teams had warts that were all too apparent by playoff season. Even though that 2023 team felt destined for greatness, all of those last-second victories couldn’t be sustainable. In 2024, Houston appeared primed to make their championship push with a retooled defense and big offensive signings in Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon, but the offense was never able to return to the highs it experienced in Stroud’s rookie year. Well, why is that? Now that the dust has settled on both seasons, what stands out when surveying the rubble?
Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images
Unfortunately, there is not an immediate and obvious answer to the dilemma of what caused Houston to stagnate in 2024. A myriad of changes and adjustments, both large and small, contributed to both the 2023 and 2024 roster’s strengths and weaknesses, making it difficult to determine what issues have persisted since head coach DeMeco Ryans arrived in January 2023. But, if we take a snapshot of each season by looking at their “best” and “worst” respective games, maybe we can find a silver lining between the two seasons. By looking at each team’s highest peak and deepest valley, maybe we can figure out what changes have worked and what problems persist!
Of course, which individual contests are considered the “best” and “worst” is up to interpretation. To me, Houston’s “best” games of the Stroud/Ryans era are those where multiple players on both sides of the ball made great individual plays to set the team up for success against a similarly ranked or better opponent. Houston’s “worst” games are those where you knew the end result after the first quarter, where there was never an extended period of genuine competition. Despite the abrupt surge to greatness, this new era Texans team has still had a small share of Davis Mills-esque losses, complete with atrocious quarterbacking, nonexistent rushing attacks, and lackluster defensive efforts. Suffice to say, this is a subjective list of the best and worst Houston Texans games in recent memory, but I think you’ll find that the four selections I’ve made here accurately display the full spectrum of
Football Action the Stroud/Ryans era has gifted us.
Without further ado, here are the best and worst Houston Texans games of the 2023 and 2024 seasons:
The 2023 Season’s Biggest Win:
Week 10: Houston Texans @ Cincinnati Bengals
Still one of my favorite games of this new era, this matchup against the Bengals was nothing short of a masterpiece. Coming into Cincinnati and facing a Joe Burrow-led Bengals team who were arguably at the peak of their powers at that moment in time was a perfect litmus test for the Houston Texans, fresh off of their blockbuster, buzzer-beating victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game will go down in history as one of the very best NFL games in Houston’s history and officially got the hype train rolling for then rookie quarterback Stroud, but it came only one week after Houston’s embarrassing loss to the hapless Carolina Panthers. How was a young and messy Texans team supposed to defeat a “complete” roster like the Cincinnati Bengals?
Well, little did we all know, something had awakened within Stroud after that Buccaneers game, something that would change the future of the Texans’ franchise. In these two weeks, Stroud had gone from a fairly impressive rookie quarterback to a legitimate MVP contender, blasting past even the highest expectations NFL fans had of him entering the 2023 season.
Stroud’s processing went from fast to warp speed against Tampa Bay, and in that game, he found three receivers he could rely on: WR Tank Dell, WR Noah Brown, and TE Dalton Schultz. He doubled down on those receivers the following week in Cincinnati, and was heavily rewarded. Any time Stroud was in trouble, he would quickly fire the ball to Brown, who was always miraculously open deep downfield.
In addition to the receivers, running back Devin Singletary had his best game in a Texans uniform, rushing for 150 yards on 30 attempts! Then, on defense, instead of the superstars making the impact plays (although, they still made a few), it was the other guys! Defensive tackles Sheldon Rankins and Maliek Collins made life hell for Joe Burrow, and then cornerback Shaquille Griffin of all people would end up snagging a game-changing interception with less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter!
So, I can understand the readers out there that are disappointed I’ve put this game here instead of the Buccaneers game, but this Bengals game was the moment I personally realized the Texans had arrived. After winning in Cincinnati, the Houston Texans weren’t just a frisky team capable of fits of exceptional football, they were now a real threat in the AFC. Since that game, Houston has remained at that level of competency in the minds of many NFL viewers - rarely higher, rarely lower.
Best Performers:
- QB C.J. Stroud
- LT Laremy Tunsil
- DT Sheldon Rankins
Biggest Takeaways:
- C.J. Stroud is an ELITE quarterback.
- A good rushing attack really compliments Houston’s passing attack.
- The Texans are deadly when they’re getting turnovers.
- A strong defensive line can make everything easier.
- Houston still needed a better offensive line, Stroud still spent much of this game running around.
The 2023 Season’s Biggest Loss:
Week 14: Houston Texans @ New York Jets (Loss, 30-6)
This game sucked all the way around the horn. Coming at a pivotal point of the 2023 season, Houston came into New York looking to beat down the 4-8 Jets and get one step closer to the playoffs. Instead, they left with only 135 total yards on offense, 6 points, and a demoralizing loss that stained their record. It’s games like this the prevent Houston from being considered an “elite” franchise, seemingly cursed to lay a few duds every year.
The rain certainly didn’t help Houston’s case, but that doesn’t excuse their inability to pivot to a more functional gameplan. The Jets were able to revive their Zach Wilson-led passing offense after halftime by relying a short routes ran by Garrett Wilson and Tyler Conklin, attacking the middle of a field defended poorly by Texans linebackers Christian Harris and Denzel Perryman. They were really hurt by the inclement weather, and Houston couldn’t find a similar offensive counter of their own.
I was shocked at good Zach Wilson looked against the Texans.
Obviously, will need to string together more games like this but it’s a glimmer of hope.
pic.twitter.com/J19jKobJ4n
— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis)
December 13, 2023
Stroud and Co. tried to get production out of wide receivers Noah Brown and John Metchie, but Stroud was off-target all game long. Wide receiver Nico Collins had actually recently recovered from an injury and was active in this game, but even he couldn’t save Stroud from crumbling under pressure. To add further insult to the game, Stroud ended up leaving the game in the fourth quarter after suffering a nasty blow while throwing the ball. Stroud would end up missing the next two games, nearly costing the Texans a playoff berth! No doubt about it, this was the worst Texans game of the 2023 season.
Worst Performers:
- C Michael Deiter
- QB C.J. Stroud
- LB Christian Harris
- LB Denzel Perryman
Biggest Takeaways:
- Houston’s offense needs interior linemen that Stroud can rely on, and they need more quality depth at wide receiver.
- Stroud needed to find more short yardage plays, but he was still firing the ball downfield. A failure on both the QB and coaching staff.
- Houston’s defense needed either faster linebackers or better safeties. Coverage, especially at the middle of the field, was a big challenge for them.
The 2024 Season’s Biggest Win:
Wildcard Round (Week 19): Houston Texans vs. Los Angeles Chargers (Won, 32-12)
I thought about including Houston’s week five victory against the
Buffalo Bills since that was a victory against the big, tough opponent, requiring big plays from the whole team, but I feel like this
Chargers win was more representative of the 2024 Texans as a whole. Like many games last year, the Texans started their wildcard game against the Chargers slow, having punted three times and turned the ball over twice by the beginning of the second quarter. Things looked were starting to look dire at the onset of their sixth possession, when Houston had third-and-16 at their own 17 yard line. That’s when crisis struck: An errant snap sends the ball bouncing away from everyone, sending Stroud into a crisis trying to retrieve the thing, which then leads to this play:
What a miracle! Before this play, Houston had just four first downs to their name, barely clinging on to the Chargers. After this play, the Texans marched down the field, scored a touchdown, forced a three-and-out, and then scored a field-goal before halftime to make the score 10-6. This one play marked a complete flipping of momentum towards Houston, as the second half would be filled with a desperate Justin Herbert launching interceptions towards several Houston DBs. Houston shocked the Chargers by nabbing the lead so quickly, and with disruptive performances from Denico Autry and Danielle Hunter complementing the heads-up plays made by Derek Stingley, Kamari Lassiter, and Eric Murray, the Texans were able to stretch their lead and run out the clock.
Houston wouldn’t give up the lead after earning it right before halftime, and with the help of this ball-hawking defense, they were able to control this game throughout the entire second half. If there was something to take from this fantastic game, it’s that both Houston’s offense
and defense are very explosive units, and Stroud is nearly impossible to beat if he isn’t consistently pressured in the pocket.
Best Performers:
- WR Nico Collins
- RB Joe Mixon
- QB C.J. Stroud
- CB Derek Stingley Jr.
- CB Kamari Lassiter
- DE Denice Autry
Biggest Takeaways:
- Nico Collins is one of the best receivers in the NFL, the Texans need to find another receiver that pairs well with him.
- Joe Mixon showed his value to the Texans in the second half of this game. Without some of his crucial runs, the Chargers would have had a chance to get back in the game.
- Investing in big, lanky cornerbacks have paid major dividends for Nick Caserio and the Texans
- Filling up the defensive line with good starters and depth pieces really pays off at the end of the season.
The 2024 Season’s Biggest Loss:
Week 17: Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens (Loss, 31-2)
For any that had the displeasure of watching this on Christmas Day of all days, we had the opportunity to witness one of the most lopsided Houston Texans losses in recent history. Seemingly attempting to channel the aura of 2022-era Texans, this team quickly spotted the Ravens 10 points in their first two drives of the game, almost entirely earned by running back Derrick Henry, someone that has a bit of a history with the Houston Texans franchise. Houston’s defensive linemen and linebackers never knew what hit them, all made desperate attempts to bring him down, to no avail. Ravens linemen Tyler Linderbaum, Ronnie Stanley, and Daniel Faalele had their way with the Texans, making sure nobody could touch Henry until his motor was already running.
Cornerback Kamari Lassiter attempted to kickstart a Texans comeback in the second quarter when he did the impossible and tackled Derrick Henry in the Ravens’ end zone for a safety, but that was unfortunately the only significant highlight for the Texans that game. Stroud attempted to manage a muddy pocket and narrow passing windows, but wide receiver John Metchie wasn’t quite able to beat Ravens’ cornerback Marlon Humphrey on a crucial third & goal pass, and that was Houston’s last chance to keep the game within reach. On the ensuing Ravens drive, quarterback Lamar Jackson would narrowly dodge the blitz of Texans cornerback Myles Bryant, flip a pass upfield to tight end Mark Andrews, who would pull away from defender Christian Harris for a 67-yard gain. There were only seven plays between that third & goal incompletion and this 67-yard rush, and that small sequence changed the entire face of the game.
In addition to that disastrous second quarter sequence, Houston’s mucky offense fell to one of their lowest points of the entire season, quite the feat after the subpar performances they had in October against the
Green Bay Packers and
New York Jets. However, unlike other poor performances of the season, where the primary culprit on Houston’s end was their offensive line, this game’s primary suspects is nearly everyone on offense, including Mixon, Metchie, and Stroud. Mixon, and the Texans rushing attack in general, was completely clogged up all game long, forcing Stroud to orchestrate the comeback entirely on his own and with his #2 and #3 wide receivers being Metchie and Xavier Hutchinson. Very much has been made about the development (or lack thereof) of both Metchie and Hutchinson, and their performances here aren’t going to do them any favors. They certainly weren’t “terrible,” and maybe it was too much to ask backup receivers like Metchie and Hutchinson to step up and become the engine to a sputtering offense facing a red-hot Ravens team, but regardless, they were called upon by Stroud and the offense to perform on crucial possessions, and they did not.
Worst Performers:
- QB C.J. Stroud
- WR John Metchie
- RB Joe Mixon
- RT Blake Fisher
- LB Christian Harris
- DT Tommy Togiai
Biggest Takeaways:
- The Texans are in desperate need of better receivers. The 2023 Texans team were still a capable offense after Nico Collins went down thanks to players like Tank Dell, Dalton Schultz, and Noah Brown. This year, with Metchie and Hutchinson replacing Dell and Brown, the offense was dramatically worse.
- The Texans are still in need of better blocking. The Ravens were able to disrupt Houston’s gameplan by ruining their run-blocking plays, but the Texans were unable to do the same to Baltimore. If Houston wants to be able to hang with the super teams in big games, they need to invest more in the offensive line.
- Houston could use a better run-defender on the interior defensive line. They’ve certainly found their pass rushers, but Houston still needs to find a big guy to plug in the middle when it’s obvious the opponent will be running the ball.
So, from this small sample size of exceptional games taken from that last couple of seasons, what can we learn? Well, one trend that stands out is the propensity with which Houston’s defense comes down with an interception or fumble recovery. DeMeco Ryans’ SWARM mentality is clearly something the defense takes seriously, going from 16th in turnovers in his first year at the helm to fifth in his second. To pair with a playmaking defense, Houston spent heavily in 2024 free agency to further improve the offense, bringing in running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Stefon Diggs. With these improvements heading into 2024, you could have argued that the Texans became a far more complimentary team after their breakout 2023 campaign. The fact the wildcard game against the Chargers wasn’t a nail-biter with a game-winning field goal at the end is a testament to how these improvements on offense and defense had made Houston a more formidable opponent in 2024. Instead of racing their best opponents to the finish line, the Houston Texans were now taking possessions away from them, and more capable of chewing on the clock with a more established rusher.
However, there are still problems that cropped out in both of the worst games referenced here. In the Jets game from 2023 and the Ravens game from 2024, Houston’s offense capitulates when Stroud receives consistent pressure from the opposing defensive line and when Nico Collins is well covered. Despite two straight years of seeing Stroud run around in circles trying to evade pressure, Nick Caserio has still failed to dedicate significant resources to the interior line. And then, maybe in an act of defiance (or cruelty), Caserio released starting guard Shaq Mason, and then traded star left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the
Washington Commanders, creating two more big holes in the line to fill this offseason.
To give Caserio some credit, he did attempt to address these holes this offseason. He started in free agency with signings like guards Laken Tomlinson, Ed Ingram, tackle Trent Brown, and - get ready for the big one - tackle Cam Robinson (oh, nelly!) Then, he looked to the 2025
NFL Draft to further sure up the tackle room by drafting Minnesota tackle Aireontae Ersery in the second round. If security was a virtue, Nick Caserio is the devil, but at least his scattershot approach to improving the line has a chance of success! We’ve seen tackle prospects with little hype transform into starters in Houston before (Tytus Howard), and if he can capture that magic in a bottle one more time, all will be forgiven.
When tackling the other noted problem that rears its head in both bad games, Nick Caserio was much more deliberate in addressing the wide receiver position on the Texans’ roster. He has been searching for the #2 receiver to line up opposite of Nico Collins for years, and it appeared that they had found it with Tank Dell, but his significant career injuries have driven doubts into his potential as a long-term solution. To counter this predicament in 2025, Caserio traded for
Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk, signed Justin Watson and Braxton Berrios, and then spent two of Houston’s top 100 selections and drafted
Iowa State receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel. Bringing in five new wide receivers into the building demonstrates how desperate Caserio is in solving this problem, and it shows how close Metchie and Hutchinson are to losing their spots on the team. Since Caserio drafted both of these players, he gets to share some of the blame for their lack of panning out, and with carbon copies of Hutchinson and Dell coming in with Higgins and Noel, we’re going to quickly find out if Nick Caserio actually knows how to find great NFL wide receivers, or if he just has a type.
However, if there’s one spot on the field that I’m willing to blindly trust Nick Caserio’s judgment on, it’s defensive back. Home run hits like Derek Stingley Jr. and Kamari Lassiter have made Houston’s defense one of the very best in the entire league, and safeties like Calen Bullock and Jalen Pitre further polish a resume of drafting defensive backs second to none in the NFL. That’s why I couldn’t be too frustrated at Caserio’s decisions to draft cornerback Jaylin Smith and safety Jaylen Reed in the 2025 NFL Draft, even though I would have strongly preferred an offensive lineman at both of those selections. Caserio may have been fortifying a position of strength on the team, but he’s had such a high rate of success with these DB draft picks that I can’t help but assume that both Jaylin and Jaylen (I know) will be worth the picks. Both talented and experienced playmakers in college, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Smith and Reed making plays like Shaquill Griffin and Tavierre Thomas were in 2023. And, if not, Nick Caserio ensured that the Texans would be loaded in the backfield when he traded for Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
So, have the Houston Texans learned their lessons from the first two years with DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud leading the team? Well, depending on how you view their moves in free agency to improve the offensive line, they may have actually addressed their most pressing weaknesses in the 2025 offseason. Although, from my perspective, dumping Shaq Mason and Laremy Tunsil in favor of Laken Tomlinson and Cam Robinson is an equalizing move at the very most. If Houston doesn’t get career-years from either of these players, then they’ll be back at square one. However, the wildcard of all of this could be Blake Fisher; if he’s able to become a starting right tackle, there will be a bevy of lineups for new Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley to experiment with to get the best possible line for each game.
Although, besides the controversy of the offensive line, I believe that the Houston Texans have made an earnest attempt at learning from the losses that kept them out of the Super Bowl in 2023 and 2024. They invested significant resources into making life easier for Stroud and Mixon with new wide receivers and new linemen coming in, they (hopefully) found wide receivers that can fill in for an injured Collins or Dell with Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, they improved the tailback room by drafting Woody Marks and then signing Nick Chubb, and they continued to invest in positions of strength by drafting more defensive backs and then signing defensive linemen like Derek Barnett, Darrell Taylor, and bringing back a personal favorite of mine, Sheldon Rankins. I still wish they would have invested some more resources at the guard position either in free agency or the draft, but I have to hand it to Nick Caserio and the front office for seemingly tackling every position of need during the offseason. They effectively used this period of time to fill in a lot of holes Houston still had on their roster, and now that training camp is about to begin, we’ll have the opportunity to see how far these new players can take the franchise. Will C.J. Stroud take that next step with new receivers like Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins? Will Aireontae Ersery be Houston’s next Laremy Tunsil? Will Jaylen Reed end up becoming Houston’s last puzzle piece to a complete defense? All of these questions will be answered in the coming weeks as Houston ramps up for the 2025 NFL Season, which is now quickly approaching!
What do you think? Have the Houston Texans sufficiently improved their roster entering their third year of this Super Bowl window, or have they still not done enough? Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
GO TEXANS!!!!
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/26063245/2181394961.jpg "Indianapolis Colts v Houston Texans")
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/26074269/usa_today_26700562.jpg "NFL: Houston Texas Training Camp")
