After surrendering the third-most sacks in the NFL during the 2024 season, the Houston Texans opted to hire a new offensive coordinator and make big changes along their offensive line, banking on a new play-caller and an almost-entirely new group of linemen being able to help third-year quarterback CJ Stroud return to 2023 form. Unfortunately, the opening 60 minutes of the 2025 season didn’t offer much cause for optimism.
In Nick Caley’s debut as the Texans offensive coordinator, Houston could only muster three 1st half field goals, not enough even in a game in which the Los Angeles Rams were held to only 14 points. Many of the problems that plagued Houston last year persisted in Week 1, including an offensive line that couldn’t keep CJ Stroud clean. In total, Stroud was hit 7 times, sacked thrice, and pressured on 41 percent of his dropbacks in the 14-9 loss.
Part of the struggle for the Texans offense could be chalked up to the fact that starting right guard Ed Ingram missed the game with an abdominal injury. It certainly didn’t help matters that starting center Jake Andrews was carted off the field with a high ankle sprain that will likely keep him out of action for a handful of weeks, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC2.
As a result, a significant amount of unexpected re-shuffling forced multiple Texans linemen into positions they weren’t expecting to play and created groups of five that likely hadn’t gotten a lot of reps together throughout training camp. But even with so much volatility, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans wasn’t prepared to make any excuses after the loss.
“Our offensive line was our offensive line,” Ryans said after the game, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. “We had five guys we had out there that were up. Injuries unfortunately happened throughout the week, so shuffling will take place. That’s the NFL. Guys go down, you have to move guys around, and we don’t complain about it. You show up and just get your job done.”
Even under pressure, CJ Stroud — for the most part at least — did get his job done. Stroud finished 9-for-10 for 102 yards passing with an additional 30 yards on the ground on plays when he was under pressure. Yes, there were three sacks in the mix as well, but compared to last season when Stroud developed some very bad habits when under duress, this was a sign of progress for the 23-year-old quarterback.
CJ Stroud Attempts to Instill Confidence in Banged-Up Offensive Line
As DeMeco Ryans himself put it, injuries are “the nature of the league,” but few teams could ill-afford injuries along their offensive line more so than the Texans could. But just because Houston finds themselves in an unenviable position so early in the NFL season, it doesn’t mean that CJ Stroud isn’t going to attempt to build up the confidence of the five guys attempting to protect him… whoever those five guys may be.
“What are you going to complain about it? Or are you going to lie down? Or are you going to go play? So for me, I just try to compete and try to compete as best as I can and show those guys ‘I don’t care who’s in there, I trust in you,’” Stroud said, per Aaron Wilson. “It’s not always easy, but that’s why I’m in the position I am to try to solve some of those issues because everybody deals with injuries.”
Sure, everyone deals with injuries, but the Texans are proving to be a preferred target of the injury bug in the earliest stages of the season. In addition to two offensive lineman, the Texans are already without Joe Mixon for at least the first four weeks of the season, and newly-added wide receiver Christian Kirk wasn’t able to suit up on Sunday due to an iffy hamstring.
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