Coming into this season, many had the Houston Texans as a dark-horse contender in the AFC, especially after the surprisingly successful season they had last year.
After all, they had added four-time Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs at wide receiver, star pass rusher Danielle Hunter and running back Joe Mixon this past offseason.
But the Texans have struggled with some key injuries this season, and on Christmas Day, they got dismantled by the Ravens, 31-2, which dropped their record to 9-7.
But former New York Jets and Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini still believes in the Texans’ ability to make some serious noise in the playoffs, and he said on Fox Sports 1’s “First Things First” that people should count them out at their own risk.
“They won the division,” Mangini said. “They have a home playoff game. Go ahead and count them for dead.”
Coach Mangini is not giving up on his Texans just yet ?
"They won the division. They have a home playoff game. Go ahead and count them for dead." pic.twitter.com/QVhtbc4v69
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) December 26, 2024
As Mangini noted, Houston excels at forcing turnovers and Mixon has had a solid season so far with 993 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.
Unfortunately, Tank Dell, one of their three standout wide receivers, tore ligaments in his knee last weekend against the Kansas City Chiefs and will be out for the rest of the season.
They have already been without Diggs, who tore his ACL in late October and is presumed to also be done for the year.
The Texans’ injury situation has put a lot of pressure on their healthy players, including second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud, but Stroud has served up miracles before, and perhaps a favorable first-round playoff matchup could result in them advancing and putting a scare in one of the AFC’s three best teams.
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