In the NFL, statistically, an 0-2 start is tough sledding. Since 2020, when the playoffs expanded to seven teams in each conference, 5 of 50 teams to start 0-2 have made the postseason. So it’s not a death blow, but it’s definitely a coma. In that same timeframe, only one team starting 0-3 has made the playoffs, and it’s last season’s Texans.
In NFL history, only one team (1992 Chargers) has made the playoffs after starting 0-4. None have made it since 2020, after an 0-4 start. The 2026 Texans are 0-3, and facing a nearly equally desperate 1-2 Dallas Cowboys outfit at home on Sunday. The magnitude of this game cannot be overstated.
The Texans have started 0-4 three times in their history. In 2005, they actually started 0-6, finished 2-14, and Dom Capers was fired at the end of the season. In 2008, they started 0-4, in part because Hurricane Harvey dropped in during Week 2, but rebounded to finish 8-8. In 2020, the COVID season, they started 0-4, and Bill O’Brien was fired on Monday following the fourth loss.
In short, 0-4 never ends well. That’s what’s at stake Sunday — sanity, saving the season, and maybe even some coaches or Texans personnel saving their jobs. Here are four things to watch for:
4. Nico is back, against a (possibly less) impoverished secondary
Wide receiver Nico Collins is the Texans’ best offensive player, hands down. C.J. Stroud has played well this season, and is probably more valuable because of the value of quarterbacks, in general, but Collins is the key that opens everything else up for his teammates. He missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, and you saw what happened — ineptitude, chaotic failure, 23 total points in two games. Collins should be back this week, and he is primed to torment a Cowboys secondary that is ravaged with injuries. The injury bug is probably a huge reason that the Cowboys traded two draft picks on Thursday for Steelers cornerback Joey Porter, Jr. It remains to be seen if Porter plays on Sunday, but the Cowboys need help in the defensive backfield.
3. Adios, Azeez
On the list of the most important players on the Texans, there may not be one more important than Azeez Al-Shaair. Sure, there are more acclaimed and decorated players on the team, but Al-Shaair is the heartbeat and vocal leader of a defense that professes to be one fo the best in football. Al-Shaair will miss this game with a groin pull. Making Al-Shaair that much more valuable is the fact that the Texans’ next two best linebackers — Henry To’o To’o and E.J. Speed — are on injured reserve. The Cowboys have a ton of talent offensively, so the middle part of the field for the Texans on defense may be a huge problem. The Texans like to call that area the “kill zone,” but with no Al-Shaair, there will be far less football murder going on.
2. Halftime celebration of 25 years of Texans football
We take a pause from the actual X’s and O’s part of this game to acknowledge the halftime celebration the Texans will conduct. In honor of 25 years of Texans football, the Texans will have a halftime ceremony that will include numerous Texans legends in attendance:
My favorite parts of this celebration are (a) that they’re doing it during the Dallas game, which is obviously a tip of the hat to the Texans’ first game ever, a 19-10 win over the Cowboys, and (b) DeAndre Hopkins is gonna be there! I hated seeing him get traded, so this is nice to see the organization and Hop have made amends!
1. Offensive strategy shift?
C.J. Stroud made no bones about it after the loss to the Colts — personnel and injuries, be damned, the Texans need to be more aggressive on offense. Stroud said that they need to attack down the field, and create more explosive plays. The running game stinks right now, and they need to lean more into Stroud’s right arm as their key weapon of choice. (That last sentence is MY opinion, not Stroud’s.) Offensive coordinator Nick Caley has inspired zero confidence in his second season orchestrating this offense. Switching things up from being conservative until forced to open up the offense, to attacking from jump, especially with Collins back, would be a welcome sight.
