Texans
Houston
C.J. Stroud and every rookie QB to win an NFL playoff game
C.J. Stroud became the latest rookie QB to win a playoff game for his team. The Houston Texans shellacked the Cleveland Browns, 45-14, and the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft looked terrific....
The Houston Texans have arrived and they’re as good as advertised
Super Wild Card Saturday lived up to its name in the city of Houston, with the Texans’ introduction to the postseason making light work of the Cleveland Browns, 45-14. If you thought Houston’s 10 wins in head coach DeMeco Ryans’ first year with a rookie quarterback was a fluke, go ahead and smack yo...
DeMeco Ryans is the only choice for NFL Coach of the Year
Mike Tomlin still hasn’t had a losing season. Kevin Stefanski’s squad endured five different starting quarterbacks. Dan Campbell has the Detroit Lions hosting a playoff game and they’re the favorite. But, they all fail in comparison to what DeMeco Ryans has done in Houston. A rookie head coach has t...
The Texans are proof that serendipity is the NFL’s most valuable asset
Think about the Houston Texans’ path to this moment. After gutting out a win over the Indianapolis Colts, 23-19, on Saturday, DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud locked up a playoff spot in their rookie campaigns. The team that opted out of hiring Josh McCown because it didn’t want to get sued also let the C...
Houston’s Baby Boy CJ Stroud can take a lick and keep on tickin’
The Houston Texans suffered a setback in a 24-21 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday that throttled them back into a mosh pit of five-loss teams in the AFC. However, not all losses are created equal. Wins are utilized as a quarterback stat too frivolously, but throughout his rookie season, CJ St...
Week 11 NFL Takeaways: Lions, Dolphins and Texans escape disaster
Winning a game does not mean the victorious team is better than the one that lost. The football is oblong and takes several unpredictable bounces every game. Sometimes sure-handed running backs fumble and undependable quarterbacks throw for 400 yards and four touchdown passes....
Jacksonville isn't quite ready to join the NFL's elite
Week 10 represented a tremendous opportunity for the Jacksonville Jaguars to show the NFL they were ready to be inserted into conversations with the big dogs in the league. Instead, they got steamrolled at home by the San Francisco 49ers, 34-3. This was an embarrassing loss, but it also had signific...
The Texans' offseason work set rookie QB CJ Stroud up for success
C.J. Stroud is well on his way to the best rookie quarterback performance in NFL history. Usually rookie quarterbacks are limited by their lack of professional experience and/or their coaches’ lack of confidence in their grasp of the complexities of football at the NFL level. Through nine games, the...
C.J. Stroud has the Texans at .500 with his cool, calm, and historic play
C.J. Stroud is making it look easy. As we’ve seen firsthand, many recent rookie quarterbacks have struggled as they adjust to the NFL. The QBs atop the 2021 NFL Draft had their bumps, with Mac Jones — who has since twice been benched for Bailey Zappe — looking like the best of that bunch that season...
Houston is getting the Oilers back ... for a day, at least
Unfortunately, there is no reason for the Houston Cougars to have an oil derrick on their helmet and trademark law wouldn’t permit it anyway. Still, the nostalgia was clear as a cloudless blue sky as the program elected to don the old Houston Oilers colors for its first game as a member of the Big 1...
Last year Deshaun Watson apologized, this year he's playing the victim
Deshaun Watson is great at reading defenses — he’s completed 67 percent of his passes and thrown for over 100 touchdowns and 15,000-plus yards in his career. But, what Deshaun Watson is not great at, is reading the room. He has a history of it....
Every athlete accused of mistreating women is as expendable as punter Matt Araiza
I don’t want to offer a silver lining in the Matt Araiza case, because a woman was still allegedly gang raped, and the Punt God’s reported innocence doesn’t lessen the victim’s trauma. However, in the year that it took to conclude the legal matter, did anyone miss Araiza? As much as his leg cannon c...
Deadspin watched the NFL Draft so you didn't have to
Welcome to the Deadspin 2023 NFL Draft tracker. If you love the NFL, but hate sitting through the NFL Draft, you’ve come to the right place. Maybe you’re out playing pickleball, or you can’t stand Roger Goodell, or the annual traditions of super-cringey interviews with players and family put you off...
Here are the most likely suitors for the Chicago Bears' No. 1 overall pick
The NFL belongs to the Chicago Bears for the next two months, regardless of whatever revelation Aaron Rodgers has. They have pocket aces, the Big Joker, Draw Four, whatever your card game of choice is, the Bears have the best hand — the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. It appears likely that the...
What's going to be different this time with the Houston Texans after DeMeco Ryans hire?
Despite being an annual news story around this time of the year — due to the circus that’s caused by the way that coaches are fired and hired in the Lone Star State — DeMeco Ryans is returning home to be the newest head coach of the Houston Texans. They say “home is where the heart is,” but the Texa...
![Should any coach want the Houston Texans' HC job? DeMeco Ryans becomes 3rd hire in as many seasons [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-1200/10ae20bd37b20a6c564c4802295508a5.jpg)
Should any coach want the Houston Texans' HC job? DeMeco Ryans becomes 3rd hire in as many seasons [Updated]
On Tuesday, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans visited with his former team, the Houston Texans, to discuss their vacant head coaching position. According to NFL insiders, Ryans is expected to be hired by the Texans, making him their third coach in three years. ...
Black coaches should boycott the Houston Texans so they can’t fill their Rooney Rule quota
When the Houston Texans fired Lovie Smith on Monday after only a year on the job, the sorriest franchise in the NFL was following the same script from last year when they fired David Culley after one season. The last three men to have the title of “coach” within that organization have all been Black...
Week 18 NFL Powerless Ranking: The bottom of the barrel
The 2022 NFL season has ended, and it was a wild one full of triumphs and disappointment. Now, let’s look at the final powerless ranking of this NFL season....
What the internet is mad about today: Davis Mills, Lovie Smith changed the trajectory of the offseason
Nobody could have seen Davis Mills’ throw for the ages coming. But we should have known the Texans would put up a fight in their regular season finale. Lovie Smith’s team tickled all the right keys in the final weeks of the regular season. In Week 14, Houston nearly upset the Dallas Cowboys. In Week...
Week 17 NFL Powerless Ranking: Houston Texans remain at the bottom
It’s time to check in on the teams that can’t get out of their own way. The final two weeks of the 2022 NFL season are upon us, and it’s been a wild season filled with ups, downs, triumphs, and disappointment for all 32 squads. Now let’s get into the Week 17 powerless ranking....