The Texans Lost to the Bengals in a Familiar and Concerning Way
Before diving into this in-depth analysis, make sure to subscribe to the Houston Stressans newsletter for exclusive Texans content, film breakdowns, and insider analysis straight to your inbox! Don't miss out on the latest updates—sign up today
There are plenty of reasons not to panic about the Texans starting 0-2. They lost to two good football teams in the Bills and Bengals, it’s September, the AFC South is still wide open and there is a ton of season left. I still believe this is a good football team that can win a lot of games.
That’s also what makes Sunday’s loss so frustrating. I’m not necessarily stressing because the Texans are 0-2. I’m stressing because of how they got there, and more specifically because Sunday looked way too similar to the games that exposed this team last season.
For all the changes Houston made this offseason, I’m starting to wonder if we’re ultimately looking at the same type of team. Good enough to make the playoffs, good enough to win a Wild Card game, but still carrying the same flaws that become much harder to hide when you start playing the best teams and defensive fronts in football.
I've Seen This Game Before
Watching Sunday’s game gave me flashbacks to Houston’s playoff loss to New England.
Obviously, the circumstances weren’t identical. There wasn’t bad weather, C.J. Stroud didn’t turn the ball over four times in the first half and Houston had Dalton Schultz available this time. But structurally, it felt eerily similar.
Houston’s offensive line ran into a dominant defensive interior, the Texans couldn’t consistently run the football and eventually became one-dimensional. Once Cincinnati knew Houston had to throw, its pass rush could tee off while the coverage forced Houston’s depleted receiving corps to consistently win individual matchups. The difference this time was that Stroud handled those circumstances much better, but the overall problem around him looked awfully familiar.
Cincinnati deserves plenty of credit for creating that problem. Their defense looks significantly better than many expected entering the season, and Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen were dominant up front. My frustration is that none of this should have surprised Houston. We knew before the game where Cincinnati’s biggest defensive advantage was, yet the offensive approach too often seemed willing to challenge it directly.
Why Attack Cincinnati's Biggest Strength?
I went back and watched Tampa Bay’s rushing attempts against Cincinnati before this game specifically because I wanted to see how another offense attacked that front. Bucky Irving had some success getting outside and finding cutback opportunities. It was a small sample and obviously Houston has different personnel, but the general takeaway made sense to me: if Cincinnati’s biggest advantage is sitting right in the middle of its defensive line, I probably don’t want to make the game about repeatedly beating those guys.
Instead, Houston came out trying to run right into the teeth of the defense. I’m not suggesting that outside zone or perimeter runs magically would have produced 200 rushing yards, and I still need to watch the All-22 before making definitive statements about individual plays or assignments. My bigger issue was the lack of variety once it became obvious Houston wasn’t winning inside.
Where were more of the cutbacks? Where was wide zone? Where were the traps or whams that could potentially use an aggressive defensive front against itself? Where was more misdirection, jet motion or anything else designed to make those defensive linemen hesitate instead of allowing them to fire directly into Houston’s weakness?
The Texans ran one perimeter/misdirection concept that worked and we basically never saw it again. Even Jawhar Jordan would have interested me in this particular matchup because his speed and one-cut ability give you another way to stress a defense horizontally. Instead, too much of the plan seemed to come down to Houston’s guys needing to physically beat Cincinnati’s guys.
Against Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen, with Houston already dealing with questions and injuries along the interior offensive line, I just don’t understand making that the fight you want to pick.
DeMeco's Comments Made Me More Concerned
That’s why some of DeMeco Ryans’ postgame comments bothered me. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of controlling Cincinnati’s defensive front and Houston needing to essentially outwork them.
I understand that mentality to an extent. Football is physical, execution matters and at some point your players have to win individual matchups. I also think there comes a point where the coaching staff has to acknowledge that the other team has an advantage and figure out how to minimize it rather than simply demanding that your players overcome it.
We literally watched Buffalo do that against Houston one week earlier. The Bills didn’t look at Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter and tell their offensive tackles to figure it out. They chipped with tight ends and backs, changed protections, used heavier personnel, moved the pocket and consistently gave their offensive line help against Houston’s biggest defensive strength.
Houston knew exactly where Cincinnati’s biggest defensive strength was and, from my perspective watching live, didn’t do nearly enough to avoid it or manipulate it. That’s what concerns me more than any individual offensive lineman losing a rep.
This can’t become an offensive philosophy where you line up, run your stuff and chalk everything up to execution when it doesn’t work. Every NFL team has talented players.
There are going to be weeks where the opponent has better personnel than you at a particular spot. The coaching advantage comes from finding ways to mitigate those mismatches and create favorable ones somewhere else.
Nick Caley Has to Find More Answers
I’ve defended Nick Caley plenty. I thought there were legitimate signs of progress last season, understood some of the circumstances he inherited and have tried to separate poor execution from poor play calling instead of blaming the offensive coordinator every time a play doesn’t work.
Sunday was one of the first games where I really struggled to defend the approach.
Once Cincinnati was able to stop the run and Houston’s receivers were struggling to consistently separate, where were the answers? If the Bengals were comfortable loading the box and playing man coverage without Nico Collins on the field, I wanted to see more ways to manufacture separation rather than continuing to ask undermanned receivers to win individually.
Give me mesh. Give me rub concepts. Use bunches and stacks to create free releases.
Move Woody Marks around and force a linebacker to cover him. Find ways to create advantageous matchups rather than waiting for one to naturally appear.
The same applies to Houston’s young receiving weapons. I understand that an NFL offense is complicated and that protections, route adjustments and assignments matter.
But if a talented player’s knowledge of the entire offense is keeping him off the field, there has to be a middle ground. Build a package for him. Simplify the assignment. Put him in a specific alignment with a small menu of routes if necessary.
The purpose of the offense is to score points, not prove that every player has mastered every page of the playbook.
Let C.J. Stroud Play Faster
One sequence late in the game really stuck with me. Houston finally generated a positive play to Dalton Schultz and appeared to be developing some rhythm. Stroud immediately began signaling at the line and looked ready to keep Cincinnati on its heels.
Houston instead substituted, brought heavier personnel onto the field, huddled, slowed everything down and eventually ran the football.
I’ve said this for years: I think Stroud is at his best when Houston lets him operate with tempo.
We saw more of it in 2023 because game situations often forced Houston into that style.
Since then, he’s frequently been asked to operate more like a possession quarterback because the defense keeps games close. But when you watch Stroud in tempo, he looks comfortable identifying the coverage, communicating routes and getting the ball out while the defense is still trying to get organized.
I also think tempo could help against some of these pressure packages that have caused Houston problems. If a defense wants to constantly substitute, disguise and create exotic pressure looks, make them communicate those calls quickly. Prevent substitutions. Force them to line up. Let Stroud see the picture and play football.
Caley deserves some credit for spreading things out more and largely moving away from the ineffective rushing attack in the second half, but I still think Houston is leaving something on the table by not leaning further into this part of Stroud’s game.
Stroud Wasn't the Problem
There will inevitably be people who look at Houston’s point total and put it on the quarterback. I can’t get there based on what I watched.
Stroud wasn’t perfect. There were a couple throws live that I thought he missed, and I’ll reserve final judgment on everything until I watch the All-22. But considering the circumstances, I thought he played very well. There was essentially no running game, the protection deteriorated, Nico Collins wasn’t available and Houston’s receivers struggled to consistently separate while also leaving plays on the field with drops and other mistakes.
Stroud still threw for more than 350 yards without turning the football over. He extended plays, used his legs when opportunities were there, protected the football and continued giving Houston chances despite the offense becoming completely one-dimensional. Dalton Schultz became the one consistently reliable option and Stroud kept finding him.
Quarterbacks obviously deserve responsibility for the performance of an offense, especially franchise quarterbacks, but there has to be some reasonable assessment of the environment around them. If you can’t run the football, can’t consistently protect and your receivers aren’t getting open, there are limits to what the quarterback can fix by himself.
Nico Collins' Absence Exposed the Receiver Room
Sunday also reinforced just how important Nico Collins is to this offense.
I remain a supporter of Jared Wayne, and I think Xavier Hutchinson has value.
Perspective matters, though. There is a massive difference between asking someone to contribute as your fourth or fifth receiver with Nico Collins on the field and suddenly asking that same player to consistently win against starting NFL corners as one of the primary options in your offense.
That doesn’t suddenly mean those players are bad. It means they were being asked to perform roles they probably shouldn’t be expected to fill.
Kayshon Boutte provided some encouraging moments, and I want to see how his performance looks on film. But the overall passing game desperately missed Collins, and Houston’s inability to consistently manufacture alternatives made his absence feel even larger.
The Defense Played Well Enough to Win
I know the defense is going to take criticism because Cincinnati still generated some explosive plays, and that’s fair to examine. I just think focusing on the final point total without considering field position completely misses how this game played out.
Houston’s defense spent far too much of the afternoon defending short fields. When you repeatedly give Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins the football around midfield, they don’t need to string together many successful plays before they’re already in scoring range.
Despite that, Houston consistently affected Burrow and finished with five sacks.
Cincinnati wasn’t marching 80 yards down the field over and over again. There were coverage losses, Burrow extended plays and Chase and Higgins won some reps, but that is also what great offensive players do.
I still need to watch the film, but there have also been several plays through two weeks where Houston has been inches away from the result looking completely different.
Potential interceptions haven’t been finished, contested throws have gone to the offense and some of those explosive plays have come down to great catches or small margins in coverage.
That doesn’t excuse everything that happened against Buffalo, and I’m not pretending Houston has been perfect defensively. I’m simply considerably less concerned about that side of the football after Sunday. Against Cincinnati, I thought the defense played well enough for Houston to win.
Special Teams Was a Disaster
Special teams, on the other hand, was a major reason Houston lost the field-position battle. The punting wasn’t good enough, coverage wasn’t good enough, penalties hurt and the return game provided very little.
Then there was the missed field goal. Ka’imi Fairbairn has earned plenty of grace considering how reliable he has been, and frankly, I didn’t love putting him in that situation anyway.
Houston faced fourth-and-1 in the third quarter while trailing by seven and chose to attempt a 58-yard field goal. I hated the decision in real time. Even if Fairbairn makes it, you’re still trailing, and a 58-yarder obviously isn’t automatic. If he misses, Cincinnati gets another short field, which is exactly what happened.
The more frustrating sequence might have been Houston’s failed fourth-and-inches attempt. We are talking about inches, and Houston called an outside run that required the back to initially move laterally when the line to gain was practically underneath the football.
If you don’t want to sneak directly behind the center because Dexter Lawrence is sitting there, fine. Alter the sneak. Find a crease. Use motion. Put Cade Stover back there. Run play action if Cincinnati is completely selling out. I don’t particularly care what the answer is, but a team with championship aspirations has to have an answer for fourth-and-inches.
Cincinnati Deserves Credit Too
None of my frustration with Houston should take anything away from Cincinnati. The Bengals won the game, their defensive line dominated, their coverage held up and their defense looks much better than I anticipated coming into the season.
Burrow also made plays when Cincinnati needed them, and Chase and Higgins created problems against one of the best secondaries in football. There is a tendency after losses to make every conversation about what the losing team did wrong, but sometimes the opponent simply makes good plays too.
Both things can be true. Cincinnati played well and deserved to win. Houston also made the path significantly easier than it needed to be.
My Concern Isn't 0-2. It's What 0-2 Has Revealed.
Houston can absolutely turn this around. The Texans can beat Indianapolis next week and could easily string together several wins after that. A month from now, we might be looking at a winning record and feeling completely different about the season.
That’s actually why I want to remember this game.
The standard isn’t simply making the playoffs anymore. Houston has already done that. The question is whether this team has fixed the issues that have prevented it from going deeper once it gets there.
Eventually, if you want to reach an AFC Championship Game or Super Bowl, you’re going to encounter elite defensive fronts. You don’t get to choose playoff opponents that perfectly match your strengths. At some point Houston is going to see another dominant interior pass rush or another defense capable of eliminating its preferred rushing concepts, and the question is what happens when it does.
My biggest fear is that Houston spends the regular season beating teams that don’t have the personnel to expose these weaknesses, we convince ourselves everything has been fixed, and then January arrives and the exact same problems show up again.
That’s what Sunday felt like to me. Different year, different opponent and some different players, but many of the same fundamental issues. Houston couldn’t handle a dominant defensive interior, the running game disappeared, the offense became one-dimensional, the coaching staff didn’t manufacture enough answers, special teams consistently lost field position and questionable game management cost the Texans opportunities.
Meanwhile, the defense played well enough to give Houston a chance and Stroud spent much of the afternoon trying to overcome everything happening around him.
It’s only Week 2. The season isn’t over, and I still think this is a good football team. But "good" isn’t really the standard anymore. If the Texans want to become the team we believe they’re capable of becoming, they can’t just demand better execution the next time they run into a matchup disadvantage.
They have to find better answers.
.png)
Bravo! Well-spoken.