The Houston Texans are not going to have an easy 2024. At least if what we’re seeing on paper is any indication. The Texans had a bounce-back year in 2023, with stars like C.J. Stroud, Will Anderson, Tank Dell, Nico Collins, and Derek Stingley Jr. all taking massive steps forward. Their collective performances helped the Texans have a 10-win season and a playoff win over the Cleveland Browns. Due to that combined and sustained success, the Texans are now going to have a much tougher road to repeat.
The Texans want to not only repeat the success of 2023 but outdo it, but to do so they’ll have to overcome the fifth-hardest schedule in the NFL.
According to various outlets, the Texans' combined opponents' win-loss record from 2023 is 152-137, with 11 of those teams having a winning record and seven of those teams having been in the playoffs. So it’s fair to say that the Texans are going to have one heck of a tough road to repeating their success in 2023, but it’s important to note that this is an expectation, not a guarantee.
The Texans' opponents are not guaranteed to repeat their success in 2024. So while it may seem like this is a huge obstacle for the team to overcome, it’s not. There’s every likelihood that the teams the Texans face end up having a bad year and fall apart in some way. It’s the lifecycle of the NFL. Teams always take a step back after a successful year. Just which teams do step back is always up in the air. Houston may not have the fifth-toughest road when it’s all said and down.
Yet, even if they do, the Texans made significant investments in the offense and defense this offseason. So it’s very likely that the team would and could rise to the expectation of their opponents so they all maintain their status quo from the season prior.