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The Houston Texans have reached the Divisional Round of the playoffs for a seventh time in franchise history, and for a third straight season. For a third straight season, and seventh time overall, the team lost in the Divisional Round. It was a complete disaster for the Texans against the Patriots, as they lost 28-16. As their 2025-26 campaign has come to an end, there is plenty of blame to go around for the loss.
The Texans had their chances to win this game. After giving up a touchdown to the Patriots on their second drive of the game, Houston answered with a field goal. CJ Stroud would throw an interception on their next drive, but after forcing a fumble on the ensuing Patriots drive, Houston scored a touchdown. From there, the game began to get away from them. The Texans would be down 21-10 going into the halftime break. They did make it a five-point game in the third quarter, but could not make the comeback.
The defense did its job in this game. They held the Patriots to just 248 yards of offense, while forcing three turnovers. Regardless, the season ends without a berth in the AFC Championship for a third straight season.
The offensive line was horrible for the Texans. Injuries were an issue. Tytus Howard had to play right tackle, even though he is traditionally a guard. That was due to Trent Brown being inactive in the game because of injury. Howard also missed time during the game with an injury. Further, the injury to tight end Dalton Schultz also hurt the offensive line. Regardless of the injuries, the line was horrid.
In the running game, backs were consistently met in the backfield with pressure from the Patriots. Woody Marks ran the ball 14 times, but managed just 17 yards, good for only 1.2 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Nick Chubb ran for just 14 yards on four carries. The most success in the running game came from Stroud, who ran for 11 yards on two carries, but this was also because he needed to scramble. Overall, the Texans managed to run for just 48 yards on 22 carries, good for only 2.2 yards per carry. Without the running of Stroud, that drops to 1.85 yards per carry.
Meanwhile, Stroud was under constant pressure when passing. He was pressured on 21 drop-backs in the game. On two of the drop-backs, he was able to scramble for positive yards. He was sacked three times in the game. He got the pass off on the other 16 attempts. Stroud was just 2-16 with three interceptions when passing under pressure. The offensive line was a major issue for the team, and something that needs to be addressed for the future.
While the Texans quarterback was under pressure in the game, he played poorly as well. Stroud threw four interceptions in the first half alone. This was not...
