Concerns about the Texans Midway Through the Year

The Texans moved to 6-2 following their 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Even though this seems like the Texans are doing extremely well on paper, many concerns about this team could hurt them in the second half of the season if they don’t get them fixed quickly.

Pass Protection

The Texans offensive line continued to play poorly, allowing a 48% pressure rate on CJ Stroud on Sunday. This has been a continued theme for the Texans this season as they now have a pressure rate allowed of 37% for the season which ranks 22nd in the league. Improving pass protection is a must for the Texans as a bad offensive line limits what kind of plays the Texans can run. A bad offensive line means the Texans will struggle to gain chunk plays and could also struggle to play from behind. It means the Texans offense would mostly rely on 10-12 play drives to score while also limiting the play calling to a lot of run plays or CJ Stroud having to get rid of the ball quickly. That can work when you are playing with a lead as we saw last Sunday, however, it could lead to struggle if you are playing from behind (especially by double digits) and need chunk plays to score quickly and get back into the game.

Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs injuries

Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs are this team’s top two pass-catching options and they are both now down with injuries. This is a major loss for the Texans (especially Nico Collins) because they now have to over-rely on Tank Dell who is also coming off a torn ACL. Dell being pushed up from the number three receiver on this team to now the number one receiver forces the secondary for the opposing team to focus solely on him. He’ll now face better corners and safeties which would hamper his production even more. This also allows the opposing team’s defensive coordinator to put all of their resources into stopping the run in Joe Mixon. For example, the Jets next week can focus on slowing down Joe Mixon because they know Sauce Gardner would match up extremely well against Tank Dell. This would make the Texans offense even more predictable than it already is.

Struggles on the Road

In the Demeco Ryans Cj Stroud era, the Texans are a dominant 11-3 at home (including playoffs). However, on the road, they are 6-6, just average. A lot of this difference in a record may have to do with the fact that the Texans are a young team and young teams tend to play much better at home than on the road, however, the fact that they average 383 yards per game at home and only 319 on the road in 2024 suggests that there is more at play than simply inexperience. More disciplined teams also tend to have more even home-road splits because their decisions aren’t based on emotions so they don’t let crowd noise influence their play on the field. It is not a coincidence that the teams that are the least penalized also have more even home-road splits. The Texans have been the 5th most penalized team in the league this year after they were 4th in penalties last year. If the Texans can clean up the penalties and not crowd noise and emotion dictate how they play, they can improve their execution on the road.

4th Quarter Offense

The Texans offense has tended to stall out a little in the 4th quarter this year, ranking 17th in 4th quarter points per game. This is not near the bottom of the NFL but it is still below average and nowhere near where the Texans should be if they want to contend in the AFC. Because of this, the Texans have a habit of keeping teams in the game for far too long and not finishing them off when they should. This was especially true in their match against the Packers in week 7 where they scored 19 points in the first half but struggled to execute in the second half, scoring only 3 points. This allowed the Packers to get a comeback victory as they struggled to pile on their 19-14 lead at the half. This comes down to a lack of adjustments. If your offense continuously stalls out in the second half of games, that is a sign that your offensive coaching staff isn’t making enough adjustments to counter the defense. This Can get very dangerous especially when you start to face the best teams in the league come playoff time.