A 2-5 record usually spells disaster, but the Houston Texans are somehow sitting in second place in the AFC South, and coach DeMeco Ryans just pulled back the curtain on a brutal internal assessment after their bye week. The fourth-year coach felt a “renewed sense of urgency” Monday morning, demanding his team refocus and reset by taking “a deep look internally” at everything they do.
The One-Score Nightmare That’s Haunting Houston
Here’s the brutal truth: a huge chunk of Houston’s struggles comes down to their inability to close out games. This team is a shocking 1-4 in one-score games, and it’s not just bad luck. All four of those losses saw opponents score the game-winning points in the final two minutes of the game or in overtime. Think about that, four times! Even their single one-score win, a 34-31 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, wasn’t clean, with the Jaguars tying the game with a field goal with 1:55 left on the clock.
Ryans isn’t sugarcoating it. He’s asking the team, “How do you find yourself on the winning side of those games?” His answer is sharp: “It’s being great in situational football and it’s finishing the proper way. If we do those things, that’s when you earn the right to win games.” This isn’t about talent, it’s about discipline and execution when it matters most.
Playoff Hopes and the Winless Challenge Ahead
Despite that ugly 2-5 start, the Texans are bafflingly in second place in the AFC South. How? The Indianapolis Colts are on a four-game losing streak, and the Tennessee Titans are a dismal 1-7. While their division race might be looking up, the AFC playoff picture is a lot murkier, with three teams ahead of them on the playoff bubble. But here’s the kicker: Houston actually has the second-best playoff odds (25%) of all AFC teams not currently in the top seven spots, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Only the Cleveland Browns, who they play next week, have better odds. Talk about a twisted season!
They kick off the second half of their season against the lone winless team left in the league, the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers just dropped to 0-7 after a 24-9 loss to their crosstown rival, the Los Angeles Rams. It gets worse for them: the Chargers haven’t scored a touchdown since the third quarter of their 23-17 loss to the Denver Broncos on October 11, that’s nine quarters of touchdownless football! They also rank fifth-to-last in total yards per game.
Ryans isn’t focused on replicating last season’s nine-game win streak, which kicked off this same week in November, or his 7-3 first year in 2023. No, he’s looking at what’s right in front of them: “Our opportunity starts this week with us being focused on handling what we can control, controlling what we can control and not putting a focus on a run. It’s about how do we prepare the right way. How do we play more disciplined? How do we have the self-discipline to go out and play clean football? That’s where it starts for me. I’m not concerned about a run. I’m concerned about us playing better.”
Can they turn the page on those close-game collapses? They get their shot this week against the struggling Los Angeles Chargers. Ryans isn’t focused on streaks, just clean football. It’s time to see if that deep look actually matters.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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