The Houston Texans once again placed last in the Touchdown Wire NFL power rankings, which is just a sample of how the media and the rest of the football world views the AFC South club.
When you go from Bill O’Brien to a 65-year-old rookie coach in David Culley, when you go from three-time Pro Bowler Deshaun Watson to Tyrod Taylor, when you go from J.J. Watt to an under-the-radar defense, it generates doubts about the team’s direction. Furthermore, when there aren’t any Pro Bowl perimeter players, it makes the Texans an easy target to call the worst in the NFL.
Does that mean having any optimism about the 2021 edition is inadvisable?
It depends on the degree optimism, not necessarily having optimism itself. Can this team win the Super Bowl? Their ceiling may be playing for the last wild-card spot in Week 18 with a couple tiebreakers needing to fall their way. Is having the optimism they can be a wild-card team unreasonable — those are questions closer to reality.
Training camp spurs optimism for anyone who loves their team. There is a newness to the game every late July and early August. Sometimes that gets dashed early after the first preseason game, or the hopefulness continues throughout the preseason.
The Texans have a player’s coach in Culley who generates positivity, which is what the organization needs after the surliness of the O’Brien era. They need to love the game again and form cohesion and fraternity, which appears to be the case under Culley. No doubt the travails of the regular season will challenge this bond.
Houston also doesn’t have trash under center. Going from Watson to anyone else is a downgrade, but the Texans aren’t exactly falling off the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge. Taylor led the Buffalo Bills to a playoff berth in his last full season as a starter in 2017. The recipe was a strong defense and a productive running game, the same as it will be for Houston in 2021. If the Texans can get reliable enough quarterback play while those aspects are clicking, the Texans should be able to contend for a wild-card spot.
Optimism for the 2021 Texans isn’t bad. During the upcoming three preseason games, they will have flashes of promise and hope for the future. However, it all needs to be properly contextualized.