J.J. Watt, Houston Texans. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
The defending AFC South champions have certainly made headlines in March. So what exactly do the Houston Texans need to become a better football team?
Over the past nine seasons dating back in 2011, the Houston Texans have won the AFC South six times. The club has also won a few playoff games along the way. But the franchise born in 2002 has yet to reach an AFC title contest game.
This past postseason, Bill O’Brien’s club saw the good and the bad when it came to comebacks. The Texans rallied from a 16-0 third-quarter deficit at home to defeat the Buffalo Bills in overtime, 22-19, in the wild card round. One week later, the Texans owned a 24-0 second-quarter advantage over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in the divisional round and wound up losing by 20 points, 51-31.
A few days into the 2020 NFL fiscal year, the franchise has made some interesting decisions in terms of personnel. But what does this club need to not only get back to the playoffs for the third consecutive year but to reach that elusive conference championship game?
5. Upgrade the defensive line
When healthy, end J.J. Watt is one of the best to ever play the game. His regular season was cut short by eight regular-season contests due to a pectoral injury. He returned for the club’s two-game postseason adventure vs. the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs but just didn’t look the part of one of the league’s top defenders.
With Watt in the lineup the first eight weeks, Bill O’Brien’s club allowed only 85.4 yards per game on the ground. Minus the standout defender the rest of the regular season, Houston surrendered a whopping 156.8 rushing yards per contest. And with an ineffective Watt in the lineup, the Texans allowed the Bills and Chiefs to run for 172 and 118 yards, respectively.
And now O’Brien must not only find a suitable replacement for interior defender D.J. Reader, who headed north to Cincinnati via free agency, but this group is in need of quality depth.