When the Houston Texans started the 2023 season 0-2 with losses to the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts, it seemed as if Houston’s NFL franchise would be nothing but an interesting footnote with new head coach DeMeco Ryans and quarterback C.J. Stroud. Coming off a 3-13-1 2022 season as they had, the Texans went all-out in the draft, taking Ohio State’s Stroud with the second overall pick, and trading up to select Alabama pass-rusher Will Anderson Jr. with the third overall pick. Ryans and general manager Nick Caserio also made some interesting free-agency moves, and took Houston speed receiver Nathaniel “Tank” Dell, but in those first two games, the Texans still looked worlds away from competitive status.
What a difference a couple of months can make. The Texans have won five of their last seven games since that 0-2 start, Ryans and his staff seem to have multiplied and maximized the efforts of just about every player on the roster, and Stroud has graduated from a college quarterback with some question marks about his NFL potential to one of the best quarterbacks in the league, regardless of tenure.
Stroud is the force multiplier for the Texans in conjunction with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, but is this team good enough to get to the playoffs and make noise there? Houston has had one of the league’s tougher schedules this season, and they close out the 2023 regular season with games against the Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Broncos, NEw York Jets, Tennessee Titans, and the Colts. So, it’s a legitimate question, and when you look at the Texans’ entire squad, there’s more than just Stroud to talk about. In truth, the Texans are performing over their projections at just about every position, and they’re doing so with a lot of players you may not even know.
“For us and our team and where we are, we’re still just grinding one week at a time,” Ryans said Monday, one day after his team beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a 30-27 last-second thriller. “Really focused on us and focused on getting better. From our game yesterday, I really loved the fact that everyone contributed to the win. I think that’s the most impressive thing to me about that game. True team win. Everybody stepping up, everybody made a play. If you were up in that game, you made a play, and that’s the cool part about our team is that it doesn’t matter who is out there, we expect everyone to do their best, play to the best of their ability, play fast, play physical, and that’s what you saw from our entire team yesterday.”
More and more, it’s what we’re seeing from the Texans week in and week out as things come together for them.
So, it’s time to focus on the feature question: Who are these guys, anyway, and why are they winning all of a sudden?
It’s about more than the quarterback.
The run game isn't spectacular, but it's good enough.
After the Bengals game, the Texans ranked 28th in Rushing DVOA and 19th in Offensive Adjusted Line Yards for the season. That has a lot to do with injuries — No. 1 back Dameon Pierce missed the last two games with an ankle injury, and Devin Singletary, formerly a bit player with the Buffalo Bills, has been the main guy. Singletary is nobody’s idea of a bell-cow back, but against a Bengals defense that was ripe for the picking on explosive run plays — their 4.9 yards per carry allowed was tied for second-worst in the league with the Buffalo Bills and behind only the Denver Broncos — Singletary had 150 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries, and six of those runs were explosive.
Singletary has always been able to bend runs to the outside, and that’s how he won on this 12-yard gain with 9:19 left in the first quarter. Linebacker Germaine Pratt probably thought he had a bead on Singletary, and then, he really didn’t.
What’s different about Singletary this season is how effectively he’s running inside; this 22-yard counter run is proof of concept. Watch how it’s blocked up, yes, but also how Singletary accelerates through his opportunities.
And when Pierce is healthy, he’s still the same jump-cutting, tackle-breaking monster he’s been for a while now. That’s a tough one-two punch to beat.
Every receiver is exceeding expectations.
Of course it helps when your rookie quarterback is a cyborg, but the Texans’ receivers are giving major bang for the buck of late — and there isn’t a single one you’d consider a Top 10 guy in a neutral situation. Third-round rookie Nathaniel “Tank” Dell is the most explosive receiver on the list, catching six passes of 20 or more air yards on 12 targets for 213 yards and three touchdowns. When you have a receiver who can just scorch defenses with speed like this… well, you get why Stroud loves this guy downfield. Carlton Davis of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is probably still recovering from the filthy stutter move Dell put on him on this 29-yard Week 9 touchdown. Dell is more than just a straight-line speed target.
But what about Noah Brown, the 2017 seventh-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys, who leads the league at 20.9 yards per reception? Brown has caught all seven of his deep targets for 258 yards and a touchdown, and as he showed on this massively important 22-yard catch against the Bengals with 15 second left in the game, Brown will take you OUT if you’re in his way.
Tight end Dalton Schultz, another former Cowboys target who signed a one-year, $6.25 million contract with the Texans this offseason, has become another force in the Texans’ passing game. Schultz is an expert at presenting a favorable target to his quarterback, as he did on this 31-yard catch against the New Orleans Saints in Week 3. This was a two-man route concept with Xavier Hutchinson running the vertical seam route on the left side, and Schultz clearing New Orleans’ deep Quarters coverage from the right.
And then, there’s receiver Nico Collins, who’s especially good at finding voids in zones, and making contested catches when a defender is matching him anywhere on the field.
The offensive line is high-quality when healthy.
The Texans’ eight sacks allowed this season is tied for third-best in the league with the Miami Dolphins. Their 17 quarterback hits allowed is about middle of the pack, but their 58 quarterback hurries allowed is tied for seventh-best in the league with the Cowboys. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil is the big name, and justifiably so, and since he came back in Week 5 from the knee injury that cost him three games, Houston has allowed just four sacks, seven quarterback hits, and 29 quarterback hurries. Their 40 quarterback disruptions allowed since Tunsil’s return ranks fifth-best in the NFL.
Sine Week 5, Tunsil is the only Texans offensive lineman who’s allowed a sack — depending on how you want to match metrics with tape, he’s allowed anywhere between two and four — but nobody else has. This is crucial for an offense heavily invested in the deep passing game — since Week 5, Stroud has completed a league-high 17 passes of 20 or more air yards for 506 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and an NFL-best passer rating of 150.4.
Stroud’s frequent boot-action plays give him an advantage when it comes to getting and staying away from pressure, but this 75-yard touchdown to Noah Brown against the Buccaneers doesn’t happen if the front five isn’t blocking it up well, with assistance from FB/TE Andrew Beck.
“Our offensive line has done a good job all year of just – we’re finally getting some continuity up there,” Ryans said of getting past all the injuries. “I know we’ve got a new center in Mike Deiter. Mike has been around for a while, but seeing those guys play together, seeing them move the line of scrimmage yesterday – I thought they played physical, they finished. Finished really well on a lot of reps in the run game, so once we start to get that mindset [and] we start to finish better, now you see the run game start to come to life there.
“Again, ‘Motor’ [Devin Singletary] – outstanding game, outstanding performance by him – the way he ran the ball. The way he finished. It’s still impressive sitting back and watching it again today. Very, very happy with what ‘Motor’ has done. It’s encouraging to see just the way his style, the way he finished, the way he made guys miss when they had one-on-one opportunities. Just impressive from all those guys, but it starts up front with the offensive line.”
The pass rush is heating up.
Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Danielle Hunter, Maxx Crosby, Trey Hendrickson, Khalil Mack, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and (the Jaguars’) Josh Allen.
What do these eight players have in common? They’re the only eight edge-rushers in the NFL with more sacks this season than Houston’s Jonathan Greenard, a 2020 third-round pick out of Florida. This shouldn’t be a complete surprise, as Greenard amassed eight sacks and 27 total pressures in 2021, but as he’s already racked up 31 total pressures this season, it’s probably time to talk more about him.
Greenard has a full array of pass-rush moves, and he worked Cincinnati’s Orlando Brown Jr. for this sack of Joe Burrow on Sunday.
And on this sack of Carolina’s Bryce Young in Week 8, Greenard took Ickey Ekwonu (yeah, we know) to the woodshed with this speed-to-power move.
Third overall pick Will Anderson Jr. has just two sacks this season, but he’s matched Greenard with 31 pressures. Anderson’s best game this season may have been in Week 6 against the Saints. He had eight total pressures — repeatedly tormenting right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, one of the best in the business, and left tackle Trevor Penning… who is not. Here, Anderson upended Ramczyk with a nasty inside counter, and nearly came down with Derek Carr as the prize. Eventually, those “almost” reps tend to turn into takedowns.
As for defensive tackle Maliek Collins, who has four sacks and 27 total pressures this season? Well, the tape against the Bengals was serious.
Maliek Collins on back to back plays goodness gracious pic.twitter.com/fo2AP8aiPm
— mike (@bengals_sans) November 13, 2023
Then, there’s IDL Sheldon Rankins, who also has four sacks, and announced his presence with authority against Joe Burrow.
Sheldon Rankins had himself a DAY against the Bengals. pic.twitter.com/3DWooyIxVQ
— mike (@bengals_sans) November 13, 2023
“It’s just finishing,” Ryans said Monday of the ability to turn pressures into sacks. “I think Sheldon [Rankins] did a really good job of finishing. We’ve been close a lot. We got pressure. We’ve created a lot of pressure, but when you see how Sheldon rushed and he was able to create separation and finish. I think that’s the next step in our progression as we continue to get better as a rush unit is just having separation and then finishing at the top of our rushes, and that’s what we did yesterday.”
The back seven is filled with hidden stars.
It should come as no surprise that a coaching staff led by Ryans can make the most out of any linebacker — back in his playing days, Ryans was the consensus Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2006, and a Pro Bowler in 2007 and 2009, and that was all for the Texans.
The biggest beneficiary of Ryans’ tutelage at that position has been Blake Cashman, a 2019 fifth-round pick for the New York Jets who is enjoying his best season by far. Cashman can mix it up as a pass-rusher and as a run defender, but in today’s NFL, you want linebackers who can cover, and Cashman has found the key to that. On this interception of Trevor Lawrence in Week 3, he read Lawrence through the progression, and had the answers to the test when Lawrence tried to hit Jamal Agnew on this intermediate crosser.
Veteran Steven Nelson has been Houston’s best cornerback this season, allowing 23 catches on 33 targets for 371 yards, 67 yards after the catch, three interceptions, two pass breakups, one touchdown, and an opponent passer rating of 79.2. Nobody in this cornerback group is a pure shutdown guy just yet, but Nelson is a sticky match defender, as he showed on this crosser interception against the Baltimore Ravens and receiver Zay Flowers in Week 1.
Ryans brought do-it-all safety Jimmie Ward from San Francisco as an experienced leader, and Ward has played well, but the guy to watch is Jalen Pitre, the 2022 second-round pick out of Baylor who can win all over the defense. Pitre can line up in the deep third, the box, and the slot with equal aplomb. And as a blitzer? Well, ask Bryce Young what Pitre can do off the edge.
How far can they take this?
The Texans are still streaky, and they’re not always consistent, but they’re coming off their two most impressive wins — against the Buccaneers in Week 9, their Overall DVOA of 38.1% ranked seventh in the league, and against the Bengals, their Overall DVOA of 49.5% ranked second, behind only the San Francisco 49ers.
“I’m excited about the way our team battled,” Ryans said after the Bengals win. “I’m so proud of our team and excited for them to be in a tight football game vs. a playoff football team and come up with a win. That’s where we’re headed as a team. We’re showing that we’re a good team, and we’re showing that we can win.
“I love the resolve of our team. Everyone believed that we were going to win, everyone put in the work and made the plays to help us win this game. It starts with the confidence that you have to have to win these tight games. Also, knowing that we got guys. We have C.J. [Stroud], receivers, Noah stepped up and had a big game. Guys stepped up and made big plays. The way Motor ran the football today is our best rushing game this year. Credit to the O-line and Motor for the way he ran the football. It was impressive to see, and I love the way he finished all of his runs.”
Everything is clicking at the right time for the Texans, and as amazing as C.J. Stroud has been, this is about more than just him.
