2024 Houston Texans season


The NFL season|2024 season] was the Houston Texans' 23rd in the National Football League and the second under List of [Houston Texans head coaches|head coach] DeMeco Ryans. The team introduced new uniforms for the first time since the franchise's inception. This was the Texans' first season with Cal McNair as the franchise's sole principal owner. The Texans started 2–0 for the first time since 2016 following their Week 2 victory against the Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears] on Sunday Night Football. The Texans would go on to have a 5–1 start, being their best start since 2012, but lost six of their next ten, including a game against the Detroit Lions season|Detroit Lions] where they blew a 23–7 halftime lead, and a loss to the Baltimore Ravens season|Baltimore Ravens] on Christmas Day|Christmas] where they lost 31–2, only scoring a safety. Poor offensive-line play alongside numerous injuries contributed to these losses, including injuries to their top three receivers, Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs, and Tank Dell. Following a sweep of their division rival Indianapolis Colts season|Indianapolis Colts], a Week 15 victory against the Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins] coupled with a Colts season|Colts] loss to the Denver Broncos season|Denver Broncos] that same week, the Texans successfully defended their AFC South title and second consecutive playoff performance. After a Week 18 victory over the Tennessee Titans season|Tennessee Titans], the Texans finished with the same record as the season before, 10–7.
Despite their inconsistent [|regular season] performance, the Texans' dominated the Los Angeles Chargers season|Los Angeles Chargers] 32–12 in the Wild Card Round to advance to the Divisional Round for the second consecutive season, where they lost to the AFC's top seed and two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs season|Kansas City Chiefs] 23–14.

Offseason

Draft

NamePositionCollegeRef.
Tarique BarnesLB2023 [Illinois Fighting Illini football team|Illinois]
British BrooksRB2023 [North Carolina Tar Heels football team|North Carolina]
Jadon JankeWR2023 [South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team|South Dakota State]
Jaxon JankeWRSouth Dakota State
Pheldarius PayneDE2023 [Virginia Tech Hokies football team|Virginia Tech]
Max TooleyLBBYU Cougars football team|BYU]

'''Draft trades'''

NFL Top 100

began announcing its annual top 100 list on July 22, 2024. Four players were named to the list.
RankPlayerPositionChange
20C. J. StroudQuarterbackNR
56Stefon DiggsWide receiver 40
68Danielle HunterDefensive endNR
71Laremy TunsilOffensive tackle 14

Preseason

Schedule

On March 26, the NFL announced that the Texans would play the Chicago Bears in the Pro [Football Hall of Fame Game] on Thursday, August 1, at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, at 7:00 p.m. CDT. The Texans were represented by Andre Johnson. The two teams also met in Week 2 of the regular season in Houston.
WeekDateOpponentResultRecordVenueRecap
HOFvs. Chicago BearsL 17–210–1Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium
1at Pittsburgh Steelers season|Pittsburgh Steelers]W 20–121–1Acrisure Stadium
2New York Giants season|New York Giants]W 28–102–1NRG Stadium
3Los Angeles Rams season|Los Angeles Rams]W 17–153–1NRG Stadium

Game summaries

Hall of Fame Game: vs. Chicago Bears

The game went into a weather delay with 3:31 left in the third quarter with a thunderstorm raining down on the stadium with lightning in the area. After a delay of 30 minutes, the game was officially called.

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Indianapolis Colts

The Texans defeated the Colts for their first week 1 win since 2021.

Week 2: vs. Chicago Bears

With this win, the Texans earned their first 2–0 start since 2016.

Week 3: at Minnesota Vikings

With this loss, the Houston Texans are 0–6 all-time against the Minnesota Vikings.

Week 4: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

A late touchdown pass from C. J. Stroud allowed the Texans to avoid the Jaguars' upset bid, improving to 3–1, their best start since 2016.

Week 5: vs. Buffalo Bills

Buffalo rallied from a 20–3 deficit to tie the game late in the 4th quarter; however, after three straight incompletions by Josh Allen from his own 1-yard line, Buffalo was forced to punt and Houston took advantage of the field position to convert Ka'imi Fairbairn's game-winning 59-yard field goal. This improved the Texans to 4–1, their best start since a 5–0 start in 2012.

Week 6: at New England Patriots

This game marked the Texans first win in Foxborough in franchise history. They were previously 0–5 in the regular season and 0–2 in the playoffs against the Patriots in Foxborough.

Week 7: at Green Bay Packers

Despite forcing three turnovers in the first half, the Texans were unable to pull away, and the Packers were able to win on a last-second field goal. With the loss, the Texans dropped to 5–2, as well as being 1–5 against the Packers.

Week 8: vs. Indianapolis Colts

With this win, the Texans swept the Colts for the first time since 2016, and improved to 6–2, two games clear of the Colts in the division race.

Week 9: at New York Jets

With the loss, the Texans fell to 6–3 and lost their third straight game against the Jets.

Week 10: vs. Detroit Lions

The Texans, primarily from their defense which intercepted Lions quarterback Jared Goff five times, built a 23–7 halftime lead; however, their offense continued its second half struggles, and the Lions rallied with 19 unanswered points, winning it on a walk-off field goal from Jake Bates. With the loss, the Texans fell to 6–4.

Week 11: at Dallas Cowboys

This game marked the Texans first win against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in franchise history. They were previously 0–2 against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium and 0–3 on the road against the Cowboys in franchise history, as they lost the only game they played against the Cowboys at Texas Stadium in 2006. The Texans also snapped their 4-game streak without scoring a touchdown in the second half, improving to 7–4.

Week 12: vs. Tennessee Titans

Ka'imi Fairbairn missed a 30-yard field goal that would have tied the game just after the two-minute warning; the Texans got the ball back one more time, but C. J. Stroud ran out of the end zone for a safety, similar to Dan Orlovsky's infamous play against the Vikings. With the upset loss, the Texans fell to 7–5. This was their only division loss of the season.

Week 13: at Jacksonville Jaguars

During the second quarter, Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair made an illegal hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The hit and subsequent brawl between Al-Shaair and several Jaguars players resulted in Al-Shaair being suspended for three games. The Texans held off a late rally by the Jaguars to improve to 8–5 and swept the season series for the first time since 2021, winning their seventh straight away game against the Jaguars.

Week 15: vs. Miami Dolphins

With the win and the Colts losing to the Broncos later in the day, the Texans clinched the AFC South for the second straight season.

Week 16: at Kansas City Chiefs

Tank Dell was lost for the season with a broken leg on a touchdown catch from C.J. Stroud in the 3rd quarter.

Week 17: vs. Baltimore Ravens

Christmas Day games
In an ugly performance, the Texans offense got nothing going against the Ravens and were shut out, though they managed a safety on a tackle of Derrick Henry in the endzone in the 2nd quarter.

Week 18: at Tennessee Titans

With the win, the Texans finished the season 10–7 and won their fourth straight game against the Titans in Nashville.

Postseason

Game summaries

AFC Wild Card Playoffs: vs. (5) Los Angeles Chargers

This is the first time the Texans have played the Chargers in the playoffs, with the Texans being 3–6 against them all-time. The Texans have made eight appearances in the wild-card round in their 23-year history, and they have played in the Saturday 4:30 slot each time. Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert, who only threw a total of three interceptions during the regular season, was picked off four times during the game.

AFC Divisional Playoffs: at (1) Kansas City Chiefs

This was the third postseason meeting between these two teams, and the second meeting in the Divisional Round. The Chiefs lead the all-time series 10–5, winning four-straight.
The Texans are winless in the Divisional Round, being 0–6, with all six losses being on the road. Their closest victory was a 20–13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2011 Divisional Round.
The last postseason meeting between these two teams was the 2019 Divisional Round, where the Texans had a 24–0 lead in the second quarter, but trailed 28–24 at halftime, and lost the game 51–31.

Statistics

Individual

Source: