The Houston Texans had the scariest defense but lost because it had one weakness — its offense

Time was running out on the Houston Texans when they made a telling choice.

Trailing New England, 28-16, and with only 4 minutes to make up the difference in their NFL divisional round playoff game Sunday in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Texans faced a fourth down deep in their own half of the field. They needed to gain 18 yards to keep their drive, and any hopes of their season, alive.

Rather than go for the fourth down, however, Houston coach DeMeco Ryans opted to punt the ball back to New England. Converting under such circumstances would have been difficult for any offense, of course. But the decision was illustrative of the confidence, or lack thereof, Houston had in its offense.

The Texans became a dark horse Super Bowl candidate and won their wild card-round postseason game last week because of their remarkably stingy defense. They are going home, after eventually losing to the Patriots, because an offense led by quarterback C.J. Stroud could never come close to complementing it.

Stroud threw four interceptions against New England, all during a brutal first half that turned the name of his backup, Davis Mills, into a trending topic on X. Ryans later said he never considered benching Stroud for Mills, adding, “C.J. is our guy.”

“I just feel bad,” Stroud said. “I really feel like I let my teammates down.”

After New England scored a touchdown on its second drive to lead, 7-0, the Patriots failed to score on their next four possessions. But Houston could not take advantage. By the time New England put together another touchdown drive, deep in the second quarter, the Texans had thrown three interceptions — one of which was returned for a touchdown — and trailed, 21-10.

By committing three of its own turnovers, New England allowed Houston several opportunities to get back into the game. But the Texans’ offense continually got in its own way. Stroud completed just 20 of his 47 passes.

With the win, New England advances to next week’s AFC championship game at Denver.

Houston was “doing great, you know, our defense getting stops, and I’m just being careless with the football,” Stroud said. “I gotta get that fixed.”

Stroud’s turnover-strewn performance came one week after he was intercepted once and lost two fumbles against Pittsburgh in Houston’s playoff opener. Houston survived those miscues because its defense became the first since 1940 to score multiple defensive touchdowns without giving up an offensive touchdown, per ESPN research.

He has not lost the faith of his teammates, Texans star defender Will Anderson said.

“We’re walking behind him,” Anderson told reporters. “I told him, man, I still think you’re the best quarterback in the league, hands down, nobody better than you. We are behind him.”

That superlative defense had kept the Texans in every game this season en route to a 12-5 record, with their largest margin of defeat just eight points. The Texans allowed the league’s second-fewest points and its fewest first downs, and, despite blitzing at one of the NFL’s lowest rates, they racked up the league’s seventh-most sacks. Only Chicago and Jacksonville forced more turnovers.

The defense was so scary-good that Texans safety Jalen Pitre declared after a late-season game that: “God is the greatest. The Texans’ defense is probably second.”

Meanwhile, their offensive counterparts contributed just enough to win; seven of Houston’s 12 wins came in one-score games. It helped Ryans become only the fifth coach in NFL history to win a playoff game in each of his first three seasons. But each season ended in the divisional round by at least double digits.

If the Texans are ever to take another step forward in the playoffs, they will need to diagnose what has led to Stroud’s regression since his outstanding rookie season in 2023, when he threw 23 touchdown passes and five interceptions, with a passer rating of 100. He threw for three touchdowns in his playoff debut — but he has never thrown for multiple touchdowns in a postseason game in five tries since.

Stroud was sacked 52 times in 2024, his second season, and lost key receivers throughout the season, as well, as he threw 20 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. This season, however, he was sacked at a far lower rate than ever before yet still ranked 17th in passing rating, just above the league average.

Houston ran more plays and threw for 193 yards to New England’s 143 Sunday but struggled to run the ball; a fumble by a running back led to Houston’s fifth turnover of the day. Most critically, missing injured top receiver Nico Collins, the Texans converted just one of their four trips into the red zone into points.

It was a script that Stroud acknowledged was typical of Houston’s entire season.

“This year, I mean, point-blank, we just didn’t put points on the scoreboard,” he said. “Our defense got stops all year, got turnovers, you know, put us in great position. And I didn’t put us in position, you know, to get us the wins by scoring points — seven [points], not three.

“So that’s kind of how I look at it, and that’s what it is. I mean, I take full responsibility. I’m the leader of the offense, and, you know, a lot of the things are on me to get it done.”