It’s hard to say people in this business are friends. Some of us are, but most of us are casual colleagues that run into each other every now and then. I have been doing this five questions feature for four or five years now. Chris Shepard from Stampede Blue has been a constant throughout that time and is one of the nicest guys in the business. We traded questions again even though he undoubtedly is in the mood just to get this season over with.

There can be no doubt that the Colts finish to the season has been about...

Welcome to week 17 of the Cyclone tracker!

This is where we follow our resident weather-themed duo in rookie receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, both out of Iowa State (hence, the “Cyclone” twins).

As always, there will be analysis, projections, commentary, and relevant updates that happen in real time.

Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel statistics vs. Chargers

Jayden Higgins

Position: WR

Projected Week 17 storm path: 3.0 targets, 2.5 receptions, 25.5 yards, 0.1 TD, 4.5 fantasy points

Actual Week 17 path: 4 targets, 2 receptions, 88 yards (44.0 avg.), 1 TD, 16.8 fantasy pts

**Total stats through Week...

One of the things I have brought up in passing is that the Texans defense makes life miserable for opposing quarterbacks. Unfortunately, I have not taken the time to lay that out statistically and that is completely on me. This is a space where we dedicate ourselves to the data side of things. So, we will go through a systematic game by game approach to look at the Texans defense and what this means for the next round of the Texans 2025 season.

The NFL is a quarterback driven league by design. As a business model, professional sports only get...

Out with the old, in with the new.

There was a time when the Indianapolis Colts ruled the AFC South. Peyton Manning was torching all the division rivals and the Texans were still trying to find their identity.

In that same era, quarterback Philip Rivers was gun slinging for the then San Diego Chargers, prior to retiring.

This week, the youthful, energetic, pack-of-wild-dogs that are the Houston Texans 2025 defense are taking on Philip Rivers and the no-longer-on-top Colts.

If you caught last weekend’s Colts game against Jacksonville Jaguars, you saw an un-retired Philip Rivers look as if he might...

Draft season is upon us. With six picks in the first four rounds, Houston is going to fill some of its major holes this offseason. Namely, offensive and defensive line, safety, and running back. Pro Football Network’s Ian Cummings’ delivered one of the first 7-round mock drafts of the season. It helps set the stage for April’s draft and puts into context what Houston will be prioritizing.

Below is my analysis on the picks and grades for each selection, but you can find Cummings’ analysis and full picks here. My final analysis is at the end wrapping up the class...

The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that, a review of Week 17:

The totality of Special Teams decides games, if not seasons: In match-ups between teams with similar strengths (strong defenses) and weaknesses (offensive line issues), how a team executes on special teams can be the difference between victory and defeat. In this one-score game, the superior play of Houston’s special teams proved that difference. Just look at the punting game. For...

It’s been over one month since the inaugural Houston Texans Mock Draft for the 2026 class, and things are starting to shape up around the league. The Texans are jockeying for position in the AFC playoff race. Meanwhile, The Washington Commanders, who the Texans have their 2nd and 4th round picks, have fallen to a 4-12 record.

In this mock, Houston goes a different direction than offensive line with its first pick. Why? We all need to come to terms with the fact that Nick Caserio doesn’t enjoy going OL with the first pick.

2025: Higgins (WR), then Ersery (OT)...

This is usually something reserved for the day after, but Saturday football always throws a wrench into everything. The good news is that the Texans now have an extra day to recover for the season finale at home. As I write this, I still do not know whether it will be their last home game of the 2025-2026 season. Obviously, once they were 3-5 they did everything they possibly could to give themselves a chance to win the division. Of course, that is not what we come here to talk about. We are here to look at what happened this...

A season that started 0-3 and sat at 3-5 at one point is now ending with a guaranteed playoff appearance. The Houston Texans officially punched their ticket the NFL postseason with a 20-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. Furthermore, they give themselves the tiebreaker over the Chargers for wild card positioning and leave a division title still within their grasp if they can get some help from the Indianapolis Colts.

The Texans offense got off to a blistering start as the Chargers defense was struck by a cyclone of touchdowns from Stroud and the two Iowa State rookie receivers....

The bad news for your Houston Texans at this point is that they’re mathematically eliminated from the top seed of the AFC playoffs. Class, let’s all thank the Denver Broncos for being useless against the Jaguars last Sunday and then winning on Christmas to make this a reality.

The good news is the Texans are still in the fight for the division title and are almost guaranteed a playoff spot as a wild card.

The Texans have today’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers and a game against Indy in Indy next week. The Jags face Indy this week and...

Sitting at 10-5, the Texans find themselves square in the playoff race. Sure, they are at the 7-seed, but they’ve notched victories over the Bills and Jags (two teams at higher seeding). They lost a close one to the Broncos, but that was as much about a hot Denver team and Houston dealing with a mid-game QB switch. This Saturday, they get the Chargers in a game that had playoff implications for both teams. Right now, Houston is in about as ideal a position as could be hoped for a squad that opened the season 0-3 and sat at 3-5...

The Houston Texans are riding a seven-game winning streak and will look to keep it alive on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers.

These two teams met in the Wild Card round of the playoffs last season, a game Houston controlled from start to finish in a 32–12 win. The Texans’ elite defense led the way, forcing Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert into four interceptions.

Much like last year, Houston’s offense has been inconsistent, and they’ll need a strong, disciplined game plan if they want to leave Los Angeles with another victory.

Here is a look at Thursday’s injury report:...