As Texans head to playoffs after rocky run, team looks inward

HOUSTON – Inside a somber Texans locker room, an embarrassing loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas left its sting collectively.

PREVIOUS: Silent night, ‘embarrassing’ night by Texans in blowout loss to Ravens on Christmas game at NRG Stadium

It was the kind of devastating setback that tests the resolve of a team, especially a banged-up one missing several key starters due to injuries.

Although the Texans are already the AFC South champions, the kings of one of the weakest divisions in football, and locked into the playoffs as the fourth seed, they’re hardly hitting stride as they enter the postseason one week after they wrap up the regular season against the Tennessee Titans in a road Sunday game with a noon kickoff that has no meaning in terms of seeding. Instead, the 9-7 Texans are on a two-game losing streak with consecutive defeats to the top-seeded and defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Ravens.

It’s not just the losses, it’s how the Texans are losing. They were totally uncompetitive in a 31-2 loss to the Ravens in a game that represents the worst loss in the DeMeco Ryans era. Their only points came on a safety as rookie corner Kamari Lassiter tackled Ravens star running back Derrick Henry in the end zone. Otherwise, there was nothing for the Texans to hang their hats on.

They allowed 432 yards of total offense, 251 yards of that on the ground as Henry punished them with a series of physical runs while MVP candidate quarterback Lamar Jackson danced around them with his trademark elusiveness. Offensively, the Texans couldn’t muster even a semblance of a running game and quarterback C.J. Stroud missed several open throws while being bashed into for five sacks and 10 quarterback hits behind a makeshift line.

Nothing was working and this latest bad performance raised more doubts about the Texans’ legitimacy as a playoff contender against the elite teams of the league. How badly the game went and the state of the team after a 5-1 start and losing six of its past 10 games. Yes, the Texans are 1-5 against teams with winning records and 8-2 against teams with losing marks.

“I feel like we got to go back and check ourselves and see who we really want to be,” Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter told KPRC 2. “I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Whether it’s ongoing pass protection issues regardless of offensive line configurations with Stroud sacked 52 times for the second-highest total in the NFL behind Chicago Bears rookie Caleb Williams, a running game stuck in neutral despite the presence of Joe Mixon, season-ending knee injuries suffered by wide receivers Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs, ongoing public outcry against embattled offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik or a traditionally stout defense that unraveled against the Ravens, the Texans don’t look primed for a playoff run. They look like a team that’s headed for a fast exit to the postseason and headed toward an offseason with plenty of big-picture questions.

That view isn’t accepted, of course, within the team. They insist they can right the ship before the playoffs, when they’ll host an AFC wild-card game against either the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens or the Los Angeles Chargers.

“We have more than enough time to really get this thing figured and see what kind of team we want to be,” said Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr., one of the few defensive players who had a solid game against the Ravens.

Currently, the Texans are most likely to face the Steelers as the fifth seed. The playoff opponent could change, depending on transpires in the final week of the regular season with a few scenarios existing.

The Ravens are 11-5 and lead the AFC North. Should they beat the Cleveland Browns in a home game, they win their division and will remain the third seed.

If the Ravens lose to the Browns, the Steelers can win the AFC North with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

And the Ravens hold a tiebreaker edge over the Chargers due to a head-to-head win over them and strength of schedule tiebreakers.

The Steelers also have a head-to-head win over the Chargers. Should the Steelers lose to Cincinnati, a Chargers win over the Las Vegas Raiders would push them up to the fifth seed and a road game against the Texans at NRG Stadium.

What’s the difference between the Texans and the elite teams in the league? It’s a recurring theme.

“It’s a thin margin,” Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil said. “We make mistakes and they capitalize on them. Play a team like that and we can’t make mistakes. It’s not talent. It’s details. It’s injuries, too. We’re banged-up. I don’t want to blame it all on injuries. Watch film, bounce back, fix our mistakes. We’re still in the playoffs. We can’t dwell on it. It’s a bad L.”

The Texans return to practice Monday morning after being off for the past four days.

“We’ll take the next couple days here to look at everything, starting with myself,” said Ryans, who won the Pro Football Writers of America Coach of the Year award last season and finished second in the Associated Press Coach of the Year balloting to Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski. “As a team, just stay together and figure out a way to come out playing better football.”

After the game, Hunter emphasized multiple times that the team needed to game plan better the next time they face a team like the Ravens.

Nothing worked, including a three-linebacker alignment of Neville Hewitt, Christian Harris and Henry To’oTo’o as Henry rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown.

Stroud was throwing off his back foot and even got his foot stepped on as Tunsil got bull rushed into him on one play, a missed opportunity as the second-year quarterback and former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year overthrew wide open tight end Dalton Schultz on a poorly-timed sequence.

The Texans were repeatedly booed and Stroud called it “probably one of my worst games of my whole career.”

Time to push the panic button or the pedal to the metal? Can the Texans bounce back in time?

“I’m not concerned,” Texans left offensive guard Tytus Howard said. “This team is resilient. I know what we can do. We just got to go out there and do it. I’m not worried about this team not being able to play with teams like that. Just consistency, we just didn’t play good, offense and defense, we didn’t play good enough.

“That team we lost to, it was us. We made mistakes. We put ourselves in situations. It’s not like teams are doing it to us. It’s about being detailed and honing in on little things, looking at ourselves first.”

Tunsil was the highest graded offensive lineman with a 90.9 Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade with center Jarrett Patterson (50.3, one sack, four pressures) and rookie right tackle Blake Fisher (60.1, one sack, three pressures) and right guard Kendrick Green (67.6, one sack, two pressures) the three lowest rated starters.

Playing for the first time since Dell suffered a devastating left knee injury, a dislocated knee, torn anterior cruciate ligament, torn medial collateral ligament, torn lateral collateral ligament and meniscus damage, the Texans said energy was low and the team looked lethargic and shell-shocked days after their road loss to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium where Dell sustained a gruesome injury that could cost him the entire 2025 season.

Sources: Texans’ Tank Dell tore medial collateral, lateral collateral, as well as ACL, dislocated knee, meniscus damage

As bad a run as it’s been, Texans wide receiver John Metchie insisted the team will be alright.

“I don’t see a comparison between us and other teams,” he said. “I think we have everything we need through and through, players and coaches, in this building to be a great team. I think we just have to focus on ourselves and just get better. Absolutely, there’s always time. It’s just where your focus is, how focused we are on the details and how seriously we all take it.”

Stroud completed just 17 of 31 passes for 185 yards, no scores and one interception.

The Texans’ fans are in an uproar, highly worried about the state of the team.

“People are entitled to their opinions,” Stroud said. “They care about the game. Their emotions matter, so I understand. This is not my first time and probably won’t be my last. It’s not something to internalize and point the finger at yourself but it is something that you can use to motivate you, to not want those moments anymore.”

One year after leading the Texans to a division title and being named to the Pro Bowl, Stroud called this game “rock bottom.”

The Texans are headed to the playoffs, but they’re faltering when they should be peaking.

“I got plenty of football left in my career, hopefully, God willing, and I know this is going to be a story I’ll tell one day that will help me in the long run,” Stroud said. “It’s part of life, man. You hit a lot of valleys and you have a lot of mountaintops. It’s cliché, but there’s not sunny days if there aren’t days with rain. So, this is a rainy day, but at the end of the day, the sun will rise up tomorrow. We have another crack at this thing next week and keep rolling.”

Fans left the stadium early during the Christmas Day game, many leaving after a widely-praised halftime performance by Beyoncé.

“We’re not thinking about the crowd or them leaving or stuff like that,” wide receiver Robert Woods said. “We’re trying to get back on track. We’re trying to play our game and play a good brand of football. We’re not thinking about the crowd, we’re just thinking about ourselves and putting good stuff on tape. Even when the game is out of hand like that you’ve still got to represent yourself and the team brand.”

The Texans are assured of another chance to play at home when it counts even more: in a home playoff game against the Steelers, Ravens or Chargers.

There’s no time to sulk or dwell on this bad game. It’s a time for introspective thought, followed by positive action.

“What are you going to do? Cry and weep about it?,” Stroud said. “Of course, it’s not easy, but, at the same time, it’s part of the game, sometimes you go out there and lay an egg. It’s not easy to sit out here and say that, but that’s what happened. We didn’t play well at all from the first play to the last.”

For a Texans team that has a lot of talent, their approach to the Titans game will be instructive. Do they play starters and try to gain momentum or do they rest guys for the playoffs?

“I think you come back fired up and showing that’s not who we are,” Ryans said. “At the end of the day, that’s not who we are. That’s not what we represent, what we put out there on the field. That’s not Texans football.

“For anybody to come back and bounce back from it you got to check yourself and make sure you’re playing with elite execution and elite energy to go out and make the plays we need to make to win the game. It all starts with a self-check and then we go from there.”

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Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.