I don't believe I'll ruffle the feathers of any Houston Texans fans by saying that the Nick Caley-crafted offense has been something of a disaster for most of the 2025 NFL season. Aside from five straight solid quarters against the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens, and a strong start-to-finish showing against the San Francisco 49ers, Houston's offensive attack has shown no pop, no consistency, and very little reason for optimism moving forward.
Are some of the rookies worth getting excited about? Sure, but the guys worth talking about were all middle round selections. Woody Marks might end up being a reliable piece in Houston's backfield for the next handful of years, and the same can be said about former Iowa State wide receivers Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins. But this isn't by any means similar to the Lions stumbling into Amon-Ra St. Brown in Round 4 or the Rams sniping Kyren Williams in Round 5.
But even beyond the talent -- or lack thereof, depending on how you want to look at it -- the biggest problem in Houston seems to be the functionality of their offense. Everything just seems broken. They don't create explosive plays, they don't convert on 3rd downs, and nowhere is it worse than in the red zone.
At the conclusion of Week 9, Houston's offense ranks dead last in the league in red zone scoring percentage. They're the only team in the league scoring touchdowns on under 40 percent of their red zone possessions, and one of just four teams under 50 percent.
Put all of that together, and you have an offense that just can't put points on the board, and that has become shockingly clear in each of Houston's five losses this season. In five losses, the Houston Texans offense has managed just four touchdowns, and when Houston gets in the red zone, they've scored a touchdown on just one of those 10 trips.
If you're scoring at home, that's a 10 percent success rate.
Without an upcoming bye week where things can be retooled and reconfigured, it's hard to imagine the Texans making meaningful strides offensively the rest of the way this season, and that's even the case if CJ Stroud only misses one game with a concussion.
To even have a chance of reaching the postseason for the third straight year, the defense is going to need to be otherworldy over the second half of the season, and for the record, that is possible. Yes, Houston's defense has given up some backbreaking scores late in games, but for the most part, this unit has been lights out and routinely gifted the Texans multiple chances to put points on the board with short fields and momentum swings.
Yet almost every time the Texans offense gets one of these chances, they end up shooting themselves in the foot and squandering the opportunity to capitalize. Wash, rinse, repeat.