"And then there’s the Texans. They won the division without breaking much of a sweat. They have a championship-caliber defense. And yet, there’s a very strong argument to be made that Houston has had the most disappointing and painful season of anybody in the division."
Exactly. Watching this offense is downright painful. Who wants to spend three hours enduring their team’s offense moving in reverse—whether it’s from negative run plays, erratic throws by the quarterback, or mindless penalties like a false start on the line? For the first two-thirds of the season, my focus was on Tunsil and the rest of the offensive line repeatedly squandering scoring opportunities with inexcusable penalties and baffling play-calling.
Recently, the line has shown some improvement—playing smarter and managing to frustrate me a bit less. I've even grown numb to Slowik's predictable shortcomings. But what’s hardest to stomach is Stroud’s decline. His performance and body language have been troubling, to say the least. Chris Long mentioned mid-season that Stroud might be a lost cause for 2024, and since then, it seems like he’s regressed even further.
Honestly, I wish the AFC South was a competent division. If the Texans faced real competition, they’d likely be languishing at the bottom of the standings, forcing some much-needed changes. Instead, the mediocrity of the division masks—or at least minimizes by comparison—the glaring flaws of this team. In a stronger division, Slowik and the offensive line coach would’ve been fired long ago. Maybe that would have slowed down or even stopped Stroud's tailspin.