Houston Texans
Head Coach: Bill O'Brien (0-0 all-time in Houston)
Last Year's Results: 2-14, no playoffs
Projected Starters:
(My Player Rankings Guide:
E - Elite Starter: Franchise changing player at his position
HQ - High Quality Starter: One of the best in the game at his position
GS - Good Starter: If this guy's on your team, he's likely starting and you should be perfectly fine with it
AS - Average Starter: This guy is OK, but if possible, I'd be looking for an upgrade
BAS - Below Average Starer: This guy should not be starting, but he will because he's the best option
??? - Not enough information regarding this guy and the jury is still out on him
R - Rookie: Pretty self-explanatory
PS - Poor Starter: This guy shouldn't be starting for your football team. NO EXCUSES!)
OFFENSE:
QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick (BAS)
RB: Arian Foster (GS)
FB: Jay Prosch (R)
WR: Andre Johnson (HQ)
WR: DeAndre Hopkins (AS)
TE: Ryan Griffin (AS)
C: Chris Myers (GS)
RG: Brandon Brooks (GS)
LG: Ben Jones (BAS)
RT: Derek Newton (PS)
LT: Duane Brown (GS)
DEFENSE:
DE: J.J. Watt (E)
DE: Jared Crick (BAS)
DT: Jerrell Powe (AS)
LOLB: Jadeveon Clowney (R)
ROLB: Whitney Mercilus (BAS)
ILB: Brian Cushing (GS)
ILB: Brooks Reed (PS)
CB: Kareem Jackson (AS)
CB: Johnathan Joseph (GS)
SS: D.J. Swearinger (BAS)
FS: Chris Clemons (GS)
SPECIAL TEAMS:
K: Randy Bullock
P: Shane Lechler
Schedule:
vs. Washington
vs. @ Oakland
vs. @ New York Giants
vs. Buffalo
vs. @ Dallas
vs. Indianapolis
vs. @ Pittsburgh
vs. @ Tennessee
vs. Philadelphia
BYE WEEK
vs. @ Cleveland
vs. Cincinnati
vs. Tennessee
vs. @ Jacksonville
vs. @ Indianapolis
vs. Baltimore
vs. Jacksonville
Predicted Results: 6-10 (3-3 in division)
Team Analysis: The Houston Texans are the popular pick to be this year's "surprise team" in the NFL. That's mainly because the Texans went from a playoff team to obscurity relatively quick and so most people think the turn-around going the opposite way, should be just as quick. That's not always the case though. Teams that usually make the jump from "3 wins" to "10 wins" do so because they make significant upgrades at the head coaching position and the quarterback position. Houston did neither in the off-season. Now, I'm not saying Bill O'Brien wasn't a good hire for Houston, because he was. O'Brien has the feel of an NFL head coach and it seems as though college coaches have actually had some success in the NFL lately (well, PAC-12 coaches have.....), so O'Brien does have that going for him. However, there's no evidence that guarantees success for O'Brien, so you have to curb your expectations for a quick turn-around like the Chiefs and Colts were able to pull off. I've seen people pick the Texans as a playoff team this year, but I just don't see it happening.
The Texans are really hurting at the quarterback position. I would feel a lot more comfortable picking Houston as a surprise team this season if they had someone better than Ryan Fitzpatrick at the most important position on the team. Fitzpatrick is an OK player, but being an "okay quarterback" only works in the NFL when you have other pieces to hide the weakness of the QB. Houston doesn't exactly have that yet. I'm not sure what Arian Foster has left in his tank. After 3 successful seasons of being arguably the best running back in the NFL, Foster got injured last season and no one knows what to expect from him, especially since his numbers have actually dipped since 2010 (his yards per game and average yard per rush has dropped since his career year in 2010). Can Foster (who is only 27) turn things around this season? Texans fans will need him to. The Texans have a nice line-up of wide receivers with Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins ready to catch passes from Fitzpatrick, but who knows where's Johnson's head is at (he demanded a trade in the off-season) and no one knows how Hopkins will perform with Fitzpatrick under center. There is some stuff to like on this Texans offense (the WR corp and Arian Foster should be fun to watch), but the QB position and the lack of depth on the offensive line is extremely worrisome.
The Texans won't be about offense though. Not when you have the kind of talent these guys have on defense. After drafting Jadeveon Clowney with the #1 pick in the NFL Draft a few months back, the Texans pretty much made every QB in the NFL shiver in their boots. How are teams going to compete with the likes of J.J. Watt (arguably the best defensive player in the league) and Clowney? Have fun trying to stop that pass rush. The Texans aren't entirely set on defense though, don't get me wrong. Outside of Clowney and Watt, the Texans have Johnathan Joseph, Chris Clemons, Brian Cushing, and a bunch of other guys who should probably be replaced, so it's not like Houston is guaranteed to have a top-10 defense this season. I just like where this unit is headed (and frankly, who doesn't?). I have the Texans winning 6 games this season, but it wouldn't shock me to see them go 8-8 either. Ideally, they would only want to win about 3-4 games so they could somehow find a way to get Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston into a Texans uniform, but there's too much talent on this team for that to happen again. Fix that QB position Houston and a return to the playoffs will be pretty much guaranteed.
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