Is 0-4 a reason to panic? Spoiler alert: yes.
In the history of the NFL, there’s only one team that has made the playoffs after 0-4, the 1992 San Diego Chargers. But even putting aside the historical improbability the Texans face, this isn’t the same team that dug itself out of a 0-3 hole last year. Last year’s “Swarm” is plugging holes at linebacker and looking discombobulated (five-dollar word of the day) on the field, falling from second to 25th in defensive DVOA. The offense? Can’t buy TDs without the CJ Stroud-Nico Collins connection. With both available, Houston scores 30+ a game. Without one? 13. Maybe to the surprise of Texans’ fans, it’s not CJ holding the team back. He’s sixth in passing yards with 1,141, five touchdowns and no interceptions. It’s everything around him.
Kamari Lassiter: Pro Bowler to Pumpkin
Kamari Lassiter was the second half of the Texans’ dynamite CB duo in 2025. He allowed just a 79.8 passer rating with 17 passes defended, and teams threw his way only because the alternative was Stingley. This year? The clock has struck midnight. He gave up 105 yards on 8 targets against the Bills in the opener, then 136 yards on 11 targets against Dallas, the most by any corner this season. Teams have noticed. He’s allowing a 114.9 passer rating and a 74.1% completion rate when targeted, up from 57.7% in 2025. Add the jump in yards per target (7.1 to 9.3) and yards allowed per game (41.3 to 68.5), and whatever gets thrown his way goes for chunk plays, catch or flag.
A 46-yard pass interference against Buffalo. A 53-yard bomb to George Pickens. A PI and a holding call that each put Dallas at the 1. That’s five penalties in four games, after six all of last season. Last year’s ballhawk is now the guy offenses are hunting.
Stale Scheme
Lassiter’s struggles are far more common than they were last year, and DC Matt Burke and HC DeMeco Ryans’ stale scheme isn’t helping. Last year, the “Swarm” rampaged through the league’s offenses with a zone-heavy, low-blitz defense. It leaned on its linebacker corps and secondary to blanket skill players until Will Anderson Jr. or Danielle Hunter caused mayhem. This year, they’ve stuck with it: zone on 84.3% of snaps, and the third-lowest blitz rate in the league (18.9%). Opponents have adjusted. Houston is allowing explosive plays on 7.1% of snaps (league average: about 5.7%) and ranks 25th in pressure rate (26.3%). It’s not that the rushers aren’t winning. Anderson is third among edge rushers in pressure rate while getting double-teamed on 41.5% of his snaps. Without a blitz to free him, offenses can put two blockers on him without worrying, and quarterbacks get all day against a zone. The Texans are in nickel or dime on 92% of snaps, tied for the most in the league, and they’re still getting gashed.
And if I’m picking up on this through simple stats, you bet NFL teams have. Dak Prescott said the Texans showed “zero disguise” on his game-winning touchdown throw. Three times in four games, Houston has held a lead late in the fourth quarter and given up a score. That’s not bad luck. That’s a defense that isn’t adjusting. Against Dallas, without their defensive leader Azeez Al-Shaair, the linebacker corps was perilously thin. Kenneth Murray and Jake Hansen were in coverage on the final drive, and CeeDee Lamb finished with 17 catches underneath and over the middle.
Enter DeMeco. A year ago, before Week 4 against Tennessee, Ryans handed defensive play-calling to Burke. Houston won 26-0 and didn’t look back. This week, with the Titans up next again, he’s taking the headset back. So what does he change?
Start in the middle. Get Al-Shaair healthy and slide Jalen Pitre back into the box, where he was one of the league’s best hybrid safety/linebackers, instead of chasing slot receivers as a nickel corner. Then fix the shell. Houston plays with one deep safety on 53.5% of snaps (8th-most in the league), and with man coverage at just 11.8%, that’s Cover 3 spammed to ineffectiveness. Quarterbacks know where the soft spots are. Mix in Cover 4 match, a zone that switches to man coverage when routes cross, and those spots disappear. Add more Cover 1 that lets the corners play their receivers straight up, with Bullock or Blankenship over the top. Send an extra rusher, and Anderson finally gets free of the double teams he’s been beating all season.
What’s a Run Game?
If the defense is stale, the running game is cooked. The Texans are averaging 79 rushing yards a game, 30th in the NFL. David Montgomery, their premier offseason signing, looks less like Knuckles rumbling through walls and more like me running into them: 2.7 yards per carry, third-worst among qualified backs. Woody Marks hasn’t been much better at 3.1, eighth-worst.
Why Houston hasn’t had a consistent run game since the Lamar Miller years (one Joe Mixon season was more flash in the pan) could be its own article. It has been, by countless sites, and it boils down to “OLINE SUCKS” in flashing letters. Per Sharp Football Analysis, the Texans average a league-worst 0.5 yards before contact per rush and have the third-highest stuff rate (22.2%). PFF grades exactly one offensive lineman as above average: Wyatt Teller, the backup right guard.
OC Nick Caley and O-line coach Cole Popovich have the Texans running a gap-heavy scheme, to little success. After all, there are seemingly no gaps to run through! And the line can’t stay clean either: 12 of the Texans’ 31 penalties are on the O-line.
This isn’t new. Last year’s offense ranked 29th in rushing DVOA, and the defense was good enough to cover for it. This year’s isn’t. With no run game, defenses don’t have to respect play-action. They sit back, wait for CJ to throw and dare him to find Nico. That’s the whole offense right now, and it’s why 30 points with both of them on the field drops to 13 without one.
Where Can the Texans Go?
The fan in me wants the Texans to tank for Jeremiah Smith, a potentially generational WR prospect for whoever Houston’s future QB is (a paid CJ or otherwise). Realistically, it’s not happening. Per FTN, the Texans are the third-best 0-4 team ever by DVOA (-2.4%), better than 17 teams in the league right now, 13 of which have a win. The next four games are softer, too: the Titans and the Chargers haven’t won, while the Giants are without Jaxson Dart (the Jaguars are currently one of the juggernauts of the league, but three of four isn’t bad). Week 10 could roll around with Houston at 3-5 and still in the hunt.
What this start has done is erase the Texans’ margin for error. No more time for growing pains. DeMeco’s whole philosophy is keep it simple and execute. Sunday against Tennessee, with the headset back in his hands, it needs to become reality. Panic? Yes. Give up? Not yet. But one more loss, and this is another disappointing season in a franchise history full of them.
