Raise your hand if you’ve seen this before: The Houston Texans play a night game on National TV and get utterly embarrassed.
With 2 weeks to prepare for the Seattle Seahawks, the Texans offense took the field and looked totally unprepared.
While the defense played to form, offensive coordinator Nick Caley’s job looked phoned in by drunken frat boys playing Mutant League Football.
So far, blame has fallen on quarterback C.J. Stroud, general manager Nick Caserio, the offensive line, head coach Demeco
Ryans, and of course, Caley.
But, with that much blame to go around, you have to start somewhere in trying to fix it.
Benching Stroud in favor of Davis Mills or another QB likely won’t get better results. Stroud has things to correct, but a smart young man who continually looks confused and discouraged speaks to poor coaching/scheme/playcalling.
You can’t bench the entire o-line… as much as you may want to…
Blaming Caserio for a lack of game day preparation and play calling ineptitude speaks to not knowing what role the GM plays in all this. Could he have actually fielded a competent o-line? Yes. Did he? No. But a good coach could overcome that.
The responsibility of the failure falls on the head coach, so Ryans should (and does) take the heat. But that doesn’t mean he’s the problem. It just means he’s situationally aware and has the integrity to shoulder the blame that comes with the big chair amidst failure.
And that brings us to Caley.
Aside from 6 quarters of football, against 2 teams that are circling the drain this season, Caley has shown nothing to give anyone the impression he’s a professional caliber offensive coordinator.
Maybe he’d make a great Pop Warner one. Or, intramural/Boys and Girls Club. High School? Possibly. NCAA – probably not good enough to compete with the pro football factory schools. The NFL? Certainly not.
Unfortunately, Houston has shown no movement to replace Caley, seemingly ok with riding this Titanic into every iceberg left on the 2025 schedule.
This isn’t to say that Stroud can’t do better, that Caserio is certainly not the greatest GM to ever live or that Ryans doesn’t have his work cut out for him. But at least the 3 of them belong in the NFL in their roles.
With the 5-2 San Francisco 49ers coming to NRG this weekend, don’t expect anything more than a continuation of offensive ineptitude.
The bright spot in all this? Historicaly good defenses have managed to carry teams to the promised land in the past. The 1985 Chicago Bears, 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2006 Baltimore Ravens were killer Ds that didn’t necessarily have pro bowl offenses helping them out. Maybe Will Anderson, Derek Stingley Jr and Calen Bullock can match that in H-Town this year?
Maybe?
San Francisco 49ers Week 8 Stats
- QB BROCK PURDY has 2+ TD passes in each of his past 4 starts. Has 36 TDs (35 pass, 1 rush) & 109.1 rating in 18 career road starts.
- QB MAC JONES leads NFL with 280.8 pass yards per game (min. 5 starts) in 2025. Has 275+ pass yards in each of his 3 road starts this season & aims for his 3rd in row on road with 340+ pass yards. Had 2 TDs vs. 0 INTs for 105.6 rating in his last game vs. Hou. (12/1/24 w/ Jax.).
- RB CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY had 7 catches, 201 scrimmage yards (129 rush, 72 rec.) & 2 rush TDs in Week 7, his 4th-career game with 200+ scrimmage yards. Leads NFL in scrimmage yards (981) & ranks 3rd in receptions (53) in 2025. Is 5th RB ever with 50+ catches & 500+ rec. yards in 6 career seasons. Can record 3rd-career streak of 5+ catches in 8 straight games. Can join Herschel Walker as only RBs ever with 50+ rec. yards in 8 straight games. Has 47 career games with 50+ rec. yards, tied 3rd-most by RB in SB era. Aims for his 8th in row with 100+ scrimmage yards.
- TE GEORGE KITTLE needs 8 catches for reach 550 & 95 rec. yards to reach 7,500 for his career.
- WR KENDRICK BOURNE has 5+ catches & 140+ rec. yards in each of his past 2 on road.
- LB TATUM BETHUNE led team with 10 tackles & had 1st-career TFL last week. Aims for his 3rd in row with 10+ tackles.
- LB DEE WINTERS had 4th TFL of season last week.
- DL SAM OKUAYINONU had 1st sack of season in Week 7.
- DL ALFRED COLLINS (rookie) had 2nd-career FR last week.
- CB DEOMMODORE LENOIR has PD in 2 of his past 3.
- CB RENARDO GREEN aims for his 11th in row on road with PD.
- S MALIK MUSTAPHA had 6 tackles last week.
- S JI’AYIR BROWN had season-high 5 tackles in Week 7.
Houston Texans Week 8 stats
- QB C.J. STROUD has 3 TDs vs. 0 INTs for 112.7 rating in 2 home starts in 2025 & aims for his 3rd in row at home with 95+ rating. Has TD pass in 18 of his 1st 19 career home starts.
- RB NICK CHUBB has 60+ scrimmage yards in 2 of his past 3. Aims for his 3rd in row at home in 2025 with 60+ scrimmage yards.
- RB WOODY MARKS (rookie) had 2nd-career TD catch last week.
- WR NICO COLLINS has 50+ rec. yards in 8 of his past 9 at home & aims for his 4th in row at home with 50+ rec. yards. Has 7 rec. TDs in his past 8 home games. Needs 6 catches to reach 250 for his career.
- WR JAYLIN NOEL (rookie) had career-high 77 rec. yards in Week 7.
- TE DALTON SCHULTZ led team with season highs in receptions (9) & rec. yards (98). Aims for his 5th in row with 5+ catches. Had TD catch in his only career game vs. SF (12/20/20 w/ Dal.).
- DE WILL ANDERSON had 4th sack of season, FF & 1st-career FR-TD last week. Has 33 TFL in 35 career games. Has 5.5 sacks in his past 6 at home.
- DE DANIELLE HUNTER has 2 sacks in both home games this season & has 12 sacks & 15 TFL in 10 home games with Hou. since 2024. Aims for his 3rd in row vs. SF with sack.
- DE DENICO AUTRY had sack in season debut last week.
- LB AZEEZ AL-SHAAIR aims for his 4th in row with PD. Has 191 tackles, 11 TFL & 8 PD in 56 games (2019-22) with SF.
- CB DEREK STINGLEY JR. had INT last week. Has INT in 2 of his past 3 & PD in 4 of his past 5. Has 22 PD & 9 INTs in 20 career home games.
- CB KAMARI LASSITER set career highs with 10 tackles & 3 TFL last week. Aims for his 4th in row with PD.
- S JALEN PITRE had season-high 9 tackles last week.
- S CALEN BULLOCK had 1st INT of season in Week 7.
All this feels so familiar, as if someone has infiltrated the Demeco Ryans organization in order to sabotage it from within.
