No one -- and I mean no one -- knows these Houston Texans better than franchise legend and Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Johnson.
Recently, Johnson graciously took some time to sit down with FanSided's Sterling Holmes and discuss the current version of the squad, among other topics, appearing on behalf of Crown Royal, along with his involvement in the Purple Bag Food Drive (which you can sign up to help with using that link).
It didn't take long for Johnson to get right to the point about the 2025 Texans and their current state.
"I think the defense has played amazing. They've kept us in every game," he told Holmes.
Andre Johnson says the quiet part loud about the Texans' struggles in 2025
He's absolutely right. As it stands, the Texans are the league's no. 1 defense in both yards and scoring. They have been downright stingy. But, somehow, the Texans are just 5-5 and on the outside looking in at the current playoff picture.
It isn't hard to see why.
"I think offensively, you know, you just have spurts," Johnson went on. "You know, you come out one game and it's like, OK, I think we've got it, and you come back the next game and it's just like, man, like, you know, what's going on?
"I think we've also kind of became one dimensional, because the running game hasn't really got going."
For a Hall of Fame wide receiver to be talking about the run game tells you exactly what kind of player he was. Sure, Johnson wanted the ball during his playing days. But he knew, just like any other well-informed individual, that a solid run game is paramount to any team's success.
The Texans are well entrenched in the bottom half of the league when it comes to the ground game, averaging just 107.6 yards per game rushing.
Despite trying to get rookie Woody Marks more involved, he's still averaging less yards per carry (3.5) than Nick Chubb (4.2) on the year. Not that Chubb's performance has been great, either, but the real issue here is the inconsistency of the offensive line.
And, now, there's not much the Texans can do to fix that area until next offseason. They're just going to have to roll with the punches and, as Johnson said, let's realize that they are still in it:
"I don't think anybody would have thought we would be in the place we're in right now, but still, when you look at it, you're still in it."