There’s an annual tradition in the NFL, after two or three weeks in the season, when the stat nerds will begin to pepper the fans, cities whose teams are winless, with the percentage chance their team has of making the playoffs, once they are 0-2, or 0-3, or 0 and whatever. Consider this an alert for all cities with football teams that are 0-1.
The Houston Texans happen to be one of those teams, on the heels of a 14-9 loss in Los Angeles to the Rams. They are 0-1 on the season. Now, 0-2 is not a death blow, by any means. DeMeco Ryans knows this, as his first iteration of the Houston Texans started the season 0-2 back in 2023. They ended up going 10-7 and winning a playoff game.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to town for a Monday night football game this week, fresh off a 23-20 season opening win in Atlanta. The Bucs are widely viewed as one of the top dozen or so teams in the sport, about what the Texans were viewed as before Week 1 (and still are, by many). We’ll preview this game in more depth on Monday, but just know that, if the Texans don’t correct some serious blemishes from Week 1, then 0-2 is a distinct possibility.
Here are the three biggest things that need correcting by DeMeco Ryans and his staff:
Operate with greater urgency
It was pretty jarring after the loss on Sunday to hear C.J. Stroud in his postgame press conference openly questioning the quality of the team’s practices in the week leading up to the Rams game, and openly lamenting the urgency of the offense on the field on Sunday:
C.J. Stroud said the Texans lollygagged and went through the motions against the Rams.
"We didn't deserve to win that game." pic.twitter.com/zy4z3OXyuU
— SportsRadio 610 (@SportsRadio610) September 8, 2025
Indeed, “lallygagging” is now a firm part of the Houston vernacular. Thanks, CJ! As far as Stroud’s contention that the team was going through the motions in the game on Sunday, they absolutely need to break the huddle and get to the line quicker on offense. If Stroud is going to have the control pre-snap that OC Nick Caley has decided to give him, he needs time to survey the field, and get the team in the right protections and plays.
Feed Nico Collins (more than five targets!)
In a game where you score no touchdowns, score nine points, and lose despite the defense putting up a Herculean effort, it cannot be that your best offensive weapon gets five targets. However, that’s exactly what happened. Nico Collins, arguably one of the six or seven best receivers in football, and the 32nd best player on the planet (as rated by his peers), had three catches for 25 yards on five targets. For some context, Collins was targeted fewer than SIX times just twice all last season, and in each of those two games, he was out of the game by the end of the first quarter (once for injury, once for rest). I would expect Collins to get a ton of targets on Monday, even if they have to force feed him the football.
Eliminate the penalties!
I love DeMeco Ryans, and I love the “SWARM” mentality that he’s brought to the team, and really to the Texans’ building, if you talk to people around their offices. It’s high energy, high intensity stuff. Unfortunately, a byproduct of the “SWARM” mentality might be a drop in football IQ or focus, because the Texans have been among the league leaders in penalties since Ryans’ arrival. On Sunday, they committed 11 penalties for 80 yards against the Rams, and the variety of the penalties was somewhat remarkable — eight different types of infractions committed by 11 different players. In other words, there was a LOT of football-stupid going on last week. That number has to be cut, at least in half, this coming Monday.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.