Bad enough the Texans lost a game that they felt they should have one against the Bills at home. However, they didn’t exactly get a lot of respite this week, for on and off-field reasons. A few events of note:
Off-Field Considerations: Hard to find a player under more of a microscope than CJ Stroud. In his last 3 official games, he has 9 attributed turnovers, including the two fumbles in Week 1. Yet, aside from those significant miscues, he did look solid against Buffalo, (26 of 38 for 274 yards and
2 TDs). The offense did put up 31 points, and likely had the line held up on the final drive and Stroud not been strip-sacked, that total could have been at least 37. Yet, the game was not where the controversy lay. Later in the week, on a podcast, Texans’ legend Andre Johnson offered his take on CJ Stroud.
The general gist of the conversation, discussing Stroud’s body language and how that reflects negatively, has not been a topic of much discussion before. A significant amount of offseason reporting indicated that Stroud was taking on more a leadership role with the offense and by extension, the team. His position within the team has evolved as he gained experience. An NFL starting QB can’t help but be the center of attention, with every action and word parsed to a degree that only the highest level of celebrities or politicians face. Few would be surprised if Stroud was upset and showing it after this past game.
To this point, at least publicly, the team has taken Johnson’s critique as just part of the NFL media landscape. There is obvious respect for Johnson, given what he has done, and if nothing else, he saw enough bad leadership and execution as a player to know it when he sees it. The team is still backing Stroud, and we haven’t gotten the dreaded “vote of confidence” remark.
Yet, that wasn’t the only off-field headline the team generated. No sooner did the Andre Johnson news break then the league revealed that they fined LB Azeez Al-Shaair over $11K for violating league policy. The policy: writing the name Hind Rajab on his eye tape under his eyes for the Week 1 game. Hind Rajab was a 5-year-old Palestinian killed by the Israel Defense Forces in 2024, one of the thousands killed in the near 3-year war in Gaza. This is not the first time that Al-Shaair has run afoul of the NFL for taking a stance over Palestine, as he was fined for a similar action back in January. Upon news of that action by the NFL (which indicated they fined Al-Shaair because he did not clear his intent with the league before the game), Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks stated that he would pay Shaair’s fine. Given that Shaair just signed a nice new extension in the offseason, the LB is likely not sweating the money.
Any mention of Gaza/Palestine/Israel is going to generate emotion/passion. The NFL is not the first entity that most would think would get wrapped up with that international nightmare, but this past week says otherwise. Al-Shaair’s stance was one action, and then you had the whole Robert Kraft/Ed Sheeran controversy, driven by one of Sheeran’s fellow performers, Macklemore, and his pro-Palestinian stances. Not going to argue who is right or wrong in that situation, but it goes to show that even the NFL can’t keep everything out.
As for the Texans, the off-field issues don’t seem to be doing a whole lot to disrupt the team aside from having to answer questions about said topics more than they might like. Of course, should the Texans get back to their winning ways, these all become footnotes. If the team struggles…well, would we be surprised if they come back to the forefront?
Hope that Depth Can Step Up: While the team generated some off-field material for the press, they also have more than enough on-field type news as well. As of the time of this writing, the following players are out for the coming game: LB To’oTo’o, DE Clowney, WR Collins, RG Ingram. That would be three starters and one significant contributor on the DL. Of the four, perhaps the Collins loss hurts the most. He was Stroud’s leading target (10) in Week 1, and generally, the offense is not as effective when he is out (see the Divisional Round against New England). Now we are about to find out if all of the other depth moves by Caserio and the front office can and will pay off. Wyatt Teller will likely man the RG spot, but given how Ingram struggled in Week 1, and that Teller was behind Ingram, does that give you much confidence? With both Collins and Higgins out, can someone like Boutte or Noel step up? What about the TEs like Schultz and Klein?
For a defense that got gashed by Josh Allen, and now down a starting LB and a top DL player, facing Joe Burrow is probably not what the doctor ordered. Outside of Al-Shaair, the LB situation is going to be quite…interesting. Provided Anderson and Hunter can stay healthy and get back to game-wrecking mode, Clowney’s absence may not hurt all that much. Overall, Houston is just increasing the degree of difficulty coming into what might be considered a near-must win. One can only hope that the injury demons are sated and that they will not demand more tribute.
Speaking of Week 1: If there is a silver lining from this week for Houston, it is that perhaps Josh Allen might be set up for a season for the ages. No need to repeat how he killed his NRG/Reliant demons this past week, but then on Thursday Night, against a dangerous Detroit team in Buffalo’s new stadium, Allen accounted for 5 more TDs, leading the Bills to a 41-31 victory. Early season results are not assured to continue deep into the year, but Buffalo might be showcasing their most explosive offense since the peak of the K-Gun era. For what has been a tough week for the Texans, you’ll take whatever positives you can.
Granted, any negative vibes from his past week can quickly fade away if Houston manages to rebound and thwart Joe Burrow and the Bengals this Sunday. Let us hope that is the case.
