Nearly a decade ago I wrote about the Houston Texans entering the franchise Red Zone, a place where they were in scoring range of Super Bowl Glory.
Well, that didn’t work out as expected. Obvs.
From Bill O’Brien’s ascension and Jack Easterby’s Grima Wormtonguing to the throw away years of David Culley and Lovie Smith, things got dark – fast.
Then the sun rose over the Gulf and owner Cal McNair made 2 of the best decisions of his life: hiring Nick Caserio as general manager, and signing off on the hiring of Demeco
Ryans as head coach.
While it took those men a few years to rebuild what BO’B and Grima destroyed, not only did they do it, they assembled arguably the best team the Texans have ever had.
Lights Out Defense
It’s almost unfair how ‘Madden Cheat Code’ good the 2025 Texans defense was. And, as you can expect from Caserio and Ryans, they improved that unit this off-season. Any ranking that doesn’t have the Houston D as #1 heading into the 2026 season is immediately invalid.
Will Anderson Jr.
Sheldon Rankins
Danielle Hunter
Azeez Al-Shair
Henry To’oTo’o
Derek Stingley Jr.
Kamari Lassiter
Jalen Pitre
Callen Bullock
Reed Blankenship
Let’s face it, every one of those players has a legit chance at landing on a Pro Bowl/All Star roster next January.
The upfront pressure is sure to slow opposing running games and speed up opponents passing attacks. And when you do both, 3-and-outs and turnovers become normal expectations.
Speaking of turnovers, Sting, Pitre, Bullock and Lassiter each had 4 interceptions last season. And, each of them improved in the off-season.
This defense is nothing short of nightmare fuel for opposing offensive coordinators.
Improved Offensive Line
While rising up from the bottom of the barrel to middle of the pack isn’t all that impressive, the 2025 Texans offense was legitimately only a handful of positive plays away from a far more positive outcome. Take a little pressure off C.J. Stroud in the New England Patriots game and give Houston a +7/Pats -7. Now we’re looking at a 23-21 Houston win, not a 16-28 Pats victory.
With the upgraded line, the offense should stay on the field a bit longer, score a bit more and commit a few less turnovers. All that is just enough incremental improvement to swing games in a league where margin of victory is often razor-thin.
More Experienced Coaching
Every day, Demeco Ryans grows as a NFL coach. And he’s already one of the best in the league. As his growth increases, his game management, situational awareness and motivational skills improve.
Offensive coordinator Nick Caley was largely to blame for last year’s offensive offensiveness. However, as the season progressed, so did Caley. Word out of training camp is his communication with quarterback C.J. Stroud has also taken a quantum leap forward. Having them on the same page every moment of the game can only help.
The Houston defense was really good under Demeco Ryans, but when he handed the reigns to defensive coordinator Matt Burke, it jumped from really good to great. This year, Burke seems poised to take it from great to historically dominant. Get ready to pencil them in along side the ‘85 Chicago Bears and 2000 Baltimore Ravens.
C.J. Stroud
Speaking of ranking lists, Houston field general C.J. Stroud has seen his name on an awful lot of “most improved” and “players to watch” lists this offseason. Actually, he probably hasn’t seen his name on those lists simply because he’s been too busy working on becoming the best Houston Texan he can be instead of reading his own press. Players, coaches and reporters have all taken notice. Between the improved offensive line and Stroud’s commitment to living up to his potential, he certainly seems poised to take this team all the way.
Rumors swirl this morning that Stroud just turned down a $50 mil/year contract extension, meaning he’s confident in his own ability to earn top QB cash this year. Hopefully that’s a bet worth taking.
Texans schedule
The NFL schedule makers were very kind to the 2026 Houston Texans, slotting them with the 26th overall hardest schedule. Houston’s upcoming opponents had a combined win percentage of .474 in 2025 according to CBS Sports. Looking over the rest of this year, there are a lot of matchups where the opponents simply don’t have enough gas in the tank to throttle past this Texans defense. Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, plus 2 more opportunities to wear the new Rivalry Unis and whoop the BESFs.
10 days til Kickoff – get excited!
#GOTEXANS
