Approximately two years ago, the Arizona Cardinals visited the Houston Texans in a Week 11 matchup in which the Cardinals entered the game with a putrid 2-9 record. The Texans, meanwhile, were coming off a massive road win against one of the elite quarterbacks in football, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow.
Does that sound familiar? It should, because on Sunday afternoon, the Texans hosted the 3-10 Arizona Cardinals, just one week after a huge road win over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Very similar situations that yielded very different afternoons.
In 2023, sure, the Texans won the game, but the outcome hung in the balance in the final minutes, and they eked out a 21-16 victory. Three C.J. Stroud interceptions kept that one close. This time around, the Texans were up 17-0 after one quarter, Stroud was practically perfect all afternoon, and the Texans cruised to a 40-20 blowout win.
This is a Texans team that has now won six in a row, and are peaking at just the right time. They have legitimate Super Bowl hopes, especially if the offense complements the defense the way they did on Sunday against Arizona. Let’s get to the winners and losers from a big Texans win:
WINNERS
4. Dalton Schultz
Schultz regaining his form from his first year with the Texans in 2023 has been one of the most welcomed developments this season. On Sunday, Schultz had big catch after big catch, eight catches in all, including a touchdown. Schultz is also blocking his ass off in the run game this season. With his eight catches on Sunday, Schultz now has 70 catches on the season, tying Owen Daniels for the single season Texans record by a tight end.
3. Nico Collins
Collins got the scoring started quickly on Sunday, with a 59 yard catch and run for a touchdown on the second play of the game. For the day, Collins was only targeted four times, but made the most of them, with three catches for 82 yards and two scores. Big picture, as long as we are talking about accolades, Collins went over the 1,000 yard receiving mark on the season. That’s three seasons in a row over 1,000 yards for Collins, making him just the third receiver in franchise history to accomplish that, obviously Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins being the other two.
2. Frank Ross
The Texans’ special teams, normally a staple of efficiency and productivity the last few years, have been very hit or miss this season. It’s unfamiliar territory for special teams coordinator Frank Ross, who’s been with the team through three different coaching regimes. That’s how good he’s been as a coach. On Sunday, these were vintage Ross special teams. Jaylin Noel had two huge returns in the kicking game, including a season long 69 yarder. Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked four field goals. The kickoff coverage team forced a turnover on the Texans’ first kickoff of the game. Tommy Townsend’s one punt pinned the Cardinals at their own four yard line. GREAT day for Frank Ross.
1. Jawhar Jordan
Sometimes, you inadvertently stumble into a good thing. Good things! Supposedly, champagne was invented from a miscalculation on fermentation in the wintertime. Similarly, perhaps the Jawhar Jordan Era in Houston was conceived from injuries to Woody Marks and Nick Chubb. Yesterday, Jordan, a second year practice squad player playing in his first game ever, set the Texans record for most rushing yards in a debut. His 105 yards were a difference maker yesterday, particularly his 50 yard run early in the second half, the long run of the season for the Texans.
LOSERS
4. That passing yard streak for the Texans defense
Through 13 games, the Texans were the first team in NFL history to hold all of their opponents to fewer than 225 yards passing in every game. That streak ended on Sunday, with Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett throwing for 245 yards. Honestly, I don’t view that streak getting snapped as a particular failure by the Texans. Once the Cardinals fell behind 17-0 in the first quarter, you knew an already pass-happy team would become even more pass-happy.
3. Help for the Texans (or lack thereof)
The Texans finally got inside the velvet rope of the AFC playoff picture last week, coming in as the 7-seed in the conference after several weeks of winning. The hope this weekend was a Texans win combined with potential losses by the Chargers (playing at Kansas City) and Buffalo (playing at New England) would vault the Texans to the 5-seed in the AFC. Unfortunately, the Chiefs and the Patriots spit the bit, and hence, the Texans remain the 7-seed.
2. Blake Fisher
The Texans used a second round pick on Fisher in 2024, as the tackle out of Notre Dame came in with an excellent pedigree. Notre Dame has put out many, many good offensive linemen over the last several years. It hasn’t really worked out for Fisher, although he seems to have found a role as the 6th offensive lineman in the team’s “jumbo” package. Unfortunately, on Sunday, Fisher was called for two penalties in crucial situations, one in which he was called for not reporting to the referee (a must for 6th offensive linemen), negating a long Nico Collins catch. The other penalty was for lining up offsides on a Cade Stover “tush push” that would have gone for a first down on 4th and 1. Not great.
1. Red zone offense
On paper, the Texans were 3 for 6 in red zone opportunities, which is okay, but elite. Percentage-wise, I’ll take it. However, there were still some disturbing things about the Texans’ performance in the red zone on Sunday. First, one of the three touchdowns was on a completely busted play, where center Jake Andrews inadvertently shotgun snapped the ball, on third and goal at the one yard line, through C.J. Stroud’s legs and the ball rolled to Woody Marks, who picked it up and scored. Second, some of the play selection that Nick Caley deploys is still so weird. On the final touchdown drive, Caley tried a trick play with Dare Ogunbowale out of the wild cat formation and it lost six yards. Two plays later, Stroud casually flips the ball to Nico Collins for a touchdown. My suggestion would be to stop the Dare trick plays, and just flip the ball to Nico on first down, but that’s just me, Caley.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.