The Draw Play

Oh Texans.

The Texans have such a weird playoff history. They have existed since 2002. They first made the playoffs in 2011, winning the division. They would beat the Cincinnati Bengals and earn their first playoff win and first divisional round game. They would lose to the Baltimore Ravens. This season set a precedent: the Texans are division winners, and they lose in the divisional round.

Since that time, the Texans have reached the playoffs 8 more times. They have only gone 1-and-done twice. Every other year they have made it to the divisional round. The most peculiar part of this run of games was until 2025, this season, they had never been a wildcard team. They won the division and got a home game, or bust. So until this year it was safe to wonder if maybe the Texans only chance of going all the way was to earn the number 1 seed so they wouldn’t have to leave Houston and go lose somewhere else.

But this year they did it. They secured a wildcard berth for the first time in team history and went into Pittsburgh and won their first ever away playoff game. This team started 0-3 and was doing this. The defense was playing lights out. Maybe this year was different. NOPE!

The defense did their best against New England and produced a winnable performance…if the offense wasn’t putrid. CJ Stroud got picked 4 times in the first half and each one was more embarrassing than the last. To give out some excuses first: the weather was shit, the offensive line was injured, and Nico Collins was out. Those are reasonable reasons for struggle. The offense didn’t struggle. Stroud was embarrassing. So embarrassing that the goodwill from his rookie year has officially dried up completely. Stroud no longer has the grace of excuses. He’s approaching bust territory. He handled the Patriots’ pressure horribly. I found an interesting scouting report on reddit about Stroud pre-draft. Look at the negatives about how he handles pressure. Sure feels like all of that came true against New England, doesn’t it?

Stroud settled down a bit in the second half but it wasn’t enough. The Patriots could tee off on him without much risk. A competent or courageous QB wins this game for Houston. The talk went from him getting a massive extension to fans wondering if they should even pick up his 5th year option, considering how expensive that defense might get. The Ohio State QB curse remains intact for now.

He also fumbled 5 times in the two playoff games, as well as the 5 picks. Real bad stuff. His INT numbers might have been even worse if the weather was different, the Patriots looked like they were jumping every route but that ball was slippery.

The Texans are now stuck in a tough place because they aren’t likely to have a better option at QB next year. A competent QB and this Houston team was a contender. Instead, well…they get a truck crash comic.