All of the pieces are in place for the Houston Texans.
C.J. Stroud is a very real franchise quarterback and gives them strong play at the game's most important position for pennies on the dollar. Demeco Ryans is a bright young head coach who always has a defensive edge ready for every opponent. The Texans also play in one of the NFL's worst division, giving Houston six games a year against the likes of the Jags, Titans, and Colts.
Coming into this season, the Texans were the pick du jour to take the leap after not only making the postseason in Stroud's rookie campaign but knocking off the Cleveland Browns in the Wild Card round by a final score of 45-14. Despite running into the buzzsaw known as the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round (and losing by a similar deficit of 34-10), all predictions about the team's future were glowing for 2024.
C.J. Stroud has never faced the Chiefs in 31 career games in the NFL.
But something happened in that Ravens' loss, the beginning of a list of how Stroud and company would fare against the league's better teams. And instead of taking the big leap forward as a unit, as everyone suspected they would, Ryan and company have to be wondering how they can improve their fortunes when gearing up to play contenders.
On Saturday, both the Texans and Chiefs will come into Arrowhead Stadium on a short week, and perhaps it changes the perspective of the Chiefs knowing they will trot out an ailing Patrick Mahomes under center. But Mahomes is at his best under duress and the rest of the roster would surely take exception to that. In a team game, the Chiefs are twice-over defending champs with a 13-1 record.
Back to the Texans' track record for a second. Going back to the Ravens loss, let's look at the list of teams they've lost to in 2024 so far:
- Baltimore Ravens (last postseason)
- Minnesota Vikings (Week 3)
- Green Bay Packers (Week 7)
- New York Jets (Week 9)
- Detroit Lions (Week 10)
- Tennessee Titans (Week 12)
Now let's look at the teams defeated by Demeco Ryan's roster:
- Indianapolis Colts (Week 1)
- Chicago Bears (Week 2)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 4)
- Buffalo Bills (Week 5)
- New England Patriots (Week 6)
- Indianapolis Colts (Week 8)
- Dallas Cowboys (Week 11)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 13)
- Miami Dolphins (Week 15)
There are exceptions here in both categories of what you would sort into "easy" and "tough" competition. Only two teams have knocked off the Bills this season and the Texans are one of them. That speaks as loudly as anything on any team's schedule this season. Thena gain, it's hard not to notice the long list of also-rans on that same list. Four games against Indy and Jacksonville feel like automatic victories and adding Miami and New England to that list increases the cupcake value.
At the same time, a team can only play the games in front of them and the Texans deserve credit for taking care of business when expected. Then again, dropping games to both the Jets and Titans in 2024 is the very opposite of that.
Beyond the unexplainable losses, there's also a line of delineation between the Texans and the league's best teams when looking at the bigger picture. Yes, there's the Bills victory but there are losses here to the Lions, the Packers, and the Vikings as well.
Basically in four games against elite teams this season, the Texans are 1-3. Now Houston is hoping to up that record on the road at Arrowhead against a Chiefs team that Stroud has never faced in 31 games as the NFL level.
It's been some time for the Chiefs as well, so they're undoubtedly going to look with fresh eyes at a Houston team that's much better since the last time they played. Just how ready will the Texans be? It's hard to tell by their track record.