HOUSTON -- The season opened with Super Bowl hopes for the Houston Texans, but after four weeks, hopes of even making the playoffs seem grim.
The Texans are at 0-4 and for various reasons: Some weeks the blame lies on the offense; other weeks it's the defense; some weeks it' both.
Simply put, Houston has not lived up to expectations internally or externally.
Last year, the Texans started 0-3 and had a fierce turnaround towards the playoffs, and in 2023, they started 0-2 and had the same result.
But only one team in NFL history has overcome a 0-4 start: The 1992 Chargers.
Previous success stories don't matter to quarterback C.J. Stroud as he said following the loss to the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday, "last year's bread isn't going to feed us this year."
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"You have to be an iPhone. You have to upgrade every year," Stroud said. "You have to upgrade whatever that looks like from personnel to plays to execution. Everything has to rise up and you can't look back and be like, 'Oh, well, we did it this time, we can do it this time.' You have to be able to flush successes and failures and be able to do your job each and every play. It doesn't matter what happened in the previous year."
The most unforeseen downgrade is the defense, that allowed the fewest yards and second-fewest points last season, not playing up to its potential. So far its allowed 34 points to the Cowboys and 36 against the Buffalo Bills in the season opener. For context, no one scored over 30 against the Texans last season.
The last time a team eclipsed that mark was on Christmas in 2024 when the Baltimore Ravens scored 31.
The defense had a players-only meeting after Week 2, but All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said there needs to action behind the words after the most-recent loss.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans' defense has allowed game-winning drives in three of Houston's four games this season. Troy Taormina/Imagn Images "It's only so much talking you can do," Anderson said. "Now it's time to look at yourself in the mirror as a man and figure out where your priorities are and how you are going to show up and get it fixed."