HOUSTON -- Is it déjà vu for the Houston Texans?
The preseason Super Bowl contenders find themselves at 0-3 for the second straight year -- and the losses have come in similar fashion.
Last year, the Texans’ first three games were lost on the last drive, and this season, the same happened in two of the three weeks.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud was sacked and fumbled inside the red zone on Houston’s last drive against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1, and in Week 3, the Texans’ defense allowed a game-winning field goal against the Indianapolis Colts with 16 seconds remaining.
But Houston remains confident despite the frustration.
“We’ve been here before,” Stroud said after the latest loss. “We can get these fixed, and we will.”
Like last season, Houston’s offense hasn’t been great. The unit is averaging 18 points (tied for 23rd) and 326 yards (14th in total offense). Stroud also has been sacked 10 times, tied for second most in the NFL.
They might have been able to circumvent history last year, but even that was a tall task. Entering this season, 25 teams had started 0-3 under the current playoff format (since 2020), and last year’s Texans are the only one to reach the postseason, according to ESPN Research. Houston also became the seventh team in the Super Bowl era (1966) to reach the playoffs after 0-3, and the last team to do it before that was ... the 2018 Texans.
“In this league, no one cares about what happened,” Stroud said. “They just want to see if you won or lost. So at the end of the day, we know who we are in our locker room. We know we will hear noise all week.
“But at the end of the day, it’s us in the locker room.”
The Texans started 3-5 last season before winning their final nine games, but slow starts have become a trend for Houston under coach DeMeco Ryans. In Ryans and Stroud’s debut season in 2023, the Texans started 0-2. The only anomaly under Ryans is 2024, when they started 2-0.
Still, the Texans have found a way to climb out of those holes -- reaching the divisional round of the playoffs during the past three years. But Ryans won’t lean on past experiences because he believes each year is different.
“For me, if we’re 0-3, obviously I haven’t coached good enough,” Ryans said. “So, haven’t coached good enough. I’ve got to coach better. If I coach better, we’ll find ourselves on the winning side.”
The offense has sorely missed Pro Bowl wideout Nico Collins, who had seven catches for 75 yards and a TD in the opener. After compiling 381 yards in the opener, Houston has averaged 298.5 yards (23rd) and scored 11.5 points (tied for 30th) without Collins (hamstring).
Last year through three weeks, Houston’s offense averaged 12.7 points (last), but its defense allowed 17 points (tied for fifth best). And while the defense gave up 36 points in Week 1 to the Bills, it has allowed 19.5 points (tied for 11th) and 283 yards per game (eighth fewest). The defense also has the fourth-best success rate (33%), the second-most sacks (nine), ranks third in tackle for loss rate (11.5%), sixth in yards per play (4.4) and fifth in quarterback pressure rate (22.1).
But an alarming issue for the Texans has been their run game. The offensive line has allowed running backs David Montgomery and Woody Marks to be hit at the line of scrimmage 66.7% (the highest by eight points) on carries, according to Next Gen Stats. The unit has missed right guard Ed Ingram, who has missed the past two weeks with a groin injury, but a 33% stuff rate (the highest against) isn’t sustainable for an effective run offense.
Montgomery and Marks average minus-.3 yards a carry before contact, the lowest in the league -- which might be a telling story as to why Houston has the lowest rushing yards from running backs (33 per game).
Stroud said there’s “no excuses” for how they’ve performed, and Ryans believes they are working to improve things despite the alarming statistics.
“We’re looking at everything from an offensive standpoint of the running game,” Ryans said. “What can we do differently for us to make sure we can turn out some yards in a run game. The guys have to keep working. Have to keep trying to do some different things as well schematically with our run game. We just keep pressing forward. But we’re headed in the right direction. We just have to clean up a few things.”
Despite the rough start, ESPN’s Football Power Index still gives Houston a 22.4% chance to make the playoffs (the highest of the five remaining winless teams), but to avoid trying to have to defy history -- since 1990, only the 1992 Seattle Seahawks have made the playoffs after starting 0-4 -- a win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS) would be a good starting point.
All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson Jr., drafted one spot after Stroud, believes the Texans are trending toward a turnaround.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” said Anderson, who had 2.5 sacks Sunday. “What would the NFL be without adversity, and it sucks that we had to start this way again. But we’re built for it. We have to keep chopping wood.”
