31) Houston Texans
Regular-Season Grade: 55.6 (F)
Regular Season + Postseason Grade: 54.4 (F; 14th)
It wasn’t a great season for the Houston Texans’ offense, and the OL’s play is a big reason why. There weren’t any truly disastrous games, but Houston had seven games graded as a D+ or worse and 11 with a C- or worse.
It’s hard to perform well consistently on offense with that level of line play.
C.J. Stroud’s propensity to hold the ball for a long time didn’t help (3.00-second time to throw), but a 10.7% sack rate in the face of the blitz (27th) cannot be excused on that, given he ranks 17th in time to throw against the blitz. Houston allows a 35.2% pressure rate (25th) against four or fewer pass rushers, but that is likely heavily related to Stroud holding the ball (28th in time to throw).
This line also struggled with the run game. They ranked 31st in RBYBC/rush (0.58) and RBWR. That makes some of
Joe Mixon’s performances this season even more impressive than they first looked.
There were major concerns about Houston’s OL entering the playoffs, and they played out. The Texans finished with a D+ grade for their game against the Chargers, thanks in large part to a 71.4% pressure rate against the blitz. That was not helped by Stroud’s throw time, but he was also a big part of the reason the sack rate was “only” 14.3% and not worse. This line also struggled in the run game, with a 0.68 RBYBC/rush.
In the loss to the Chiefs, the Texans had their second-best single-game performance for the season. But with a B-, it was a low bar to begin with.
The biggest driver of Houston success was a 1.91 RBYBC/rush, ranking as the second-best number of the playoffs. Their pass-blocking numbers were still a concern, with a 22.2% sack rate (19th) and a 53.7% pressure rate. However, Stroud held the ball for 3.3 seconds, the fifth-longest of the playoffs so far this season.
The Texans struggled against the blitz, but Stroud held the ball for a long time. They did well against non-blitz rushes with a 43.2% pressure rate (12th) despite the fifth-highest time to throw (3.4 seconds).