2023 Houston Texans season

The 2023 season was the Houston Texans' 22nd season in the National Football League (NFL) and the first under head coach DeMeco Ryans. This season began with the team's fourth head coach in five seasons, and was also the team's fourth consecutive season with a different head coach. While the team went into the season with low expectations as a rebuilding period and started 0–2, they not only improved on their 3–13–1 record from last year with a Week 9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the Texans qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2019 with a win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 18, ending with a 10–7 record. After the Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Tennessee Titans the day after, the Texans also clinched the AFC South for the first time since 2019. The Texans became the fifth team in NFL history to make the playoffs with both a rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach, as well as making history as the first team in NFL history to win a division entirely with a rookie head coach and rookie quarterback.

In the Wild Card round of the playoffs, the Texans blew out the Cleveland Browns with a 45–14 win. The team's season would officially come to an end when they would lose to the one-seed Baltimore Ravens 34–10 in the Divisional round, preventing them from making their first AFC Championship appearance in franchise history.

In the NFL draft, the Texans selected quarterback C. J. Stroud from Ohio State second overall. Stroud would break several NFL and franchise rookie records on his way to being named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, becoming the first player in franchise history to win the award. After trading with the Arizona Cardinals, the Texans would select Alabama defensive end Will Anderson Jr. third overall. Anderson was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, marking the fourth time in NFL history that teammates won the offensive and defensive rookie of the year awards.

The Houston Texans drew an average home attendance of 71,193 in 9 home games in the 2023 NFL season.

On January 8, the Texans fired Lovie Smith after just one rebuilding season as the head coach with a record of 3–13–1. On January 31, the Texans hired San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator and former player DeMeco Ryans as their new head coach.

Draft trades

Owner/senior chairwoman – Janice McNair CEO/chairman – Cal McNair President – Greg Grissom General manager – Nick Caserio Executive vice president/general counsel – Greg Kondritz Assistant director of player personnel and college scouting director – James Liipfert Assistant director of player personnel – Chris Blanco Director of football operations – Clay Hampton Director of Pro Scouting – Ronnie McGill Assistant director of pro scouting – D. J. Debick Director of team development – Dylan Thompson Head coaches

Head coach – DeMeco Ryans Assistant head coach/running backs – Danny Barrett Offensive coaches

Offensive coordinator – Bobby Slowik Quarterbacks – Jerrod Johnson Wide receivers/offensive passing game coordinator – Ben McDaniels Tight ends – Jake Moreland Offensive line – Chris Strausser Assistant offensive line – Cole Popovich Senior offensive assistant – Shane Day Senior offensive assistant – Bill Lazor Offensive assistant – Jarrod James Offensive assistant – Denarius McGhee Offensive quality control – Leander Wallace | | | Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Matt Burke Defensive passing game coordinator – Cory Undlin Defensive line – Jacques Cesaire Assistant defensive line – Rod Wright Linebackers – Chris Kiffin Defensive backs – Dino Vasso Safeties – Stephen Adegoke Defensive assistant – Ben Bolling Defensive assistant – Ryan Milus Special teams coaches

Special teams coordinator – Frank Ross Assistant special teams coordinator – Will Burnham Strength and conditioning

Head strength and conditioning – Mike Eubanks Assistant strength and conditioning – Chris Cervantes Assistant strength and conditioning – Joe Distor Assistant strength and conditioning – Pat Moorer |

47 Andrew Beck FB 33 Dare Ogunbowale 31 Dameon Pierce 26 Devin Singletary Wide receivers (WR)

12 Nico Collins 19 Xavier Hutchinson  8 John Metchie III 82 Steven Sims  2 Robert Woods Tight ends (TE)

 9 Brevin Jordan 81 Eric Saubert 86 Dalton Schultz | | Offensive linemen (OL) 64 Nick Broeker G 63 Michael Deiter C 60 Dieter Eiselen G 77 George Fant T 67 Charlie Heck T 74 Josh Jones T 69 Shaq Mason G 70 Juice Scruggs C 78 Laremy Tunsil T Defensive linemen (DL)

51 Will Anderson Jr. DE 95 Derek Barnett DE 96 Maliek Collins DT 94 Khalil Davis DT 52 Jonathan Greenard DE 93 Kurt Hinish DT 55 Jerry Hughes DE 98 Sheldon Rankins DT 41 Myjai Sanders DE 97 Teair Tart DT | | Linebackers (LB) 53 Blake Cashman MLB 35 Jake Hansen OLB 48 Christian Harris OLB 43 Neville Hewitt OLB  6 Denzel Perryman OLB 39 Henry To'oTo'o MLB Defensive backs (DB)

 0 Adrian Amos SS 17 Kris Boyd CB 20 Ka'dar Hollman CB 30 DeAndre Houston-Carson FS 22 Kareem Jackson SS 25 Desmond King CB 21 Steven Nelson CB  5 Jalen Pitre SS 37 D'Angelo Ross CB 24 Derek Stingley Jr. CB Special teams (ST)

15 Kaʻimi Fairbairn K 11 Cameron Johnston P 46 Jon Weeks LS | | Practice squad 58 McTelvin Agim DT 14 Alex Bachman WR 16 Tim Boyle QB 27 Brady Breeze SS 87 Damiere Byrd WR 13 Chase Cota WR 90 Ali Gaye DE 44 Marcell Harris MLB 36 Brandon Hill FS 56 Kerry Hyder DE 88 Johnny Johnson III WR 40 Dalton Keene TE 79 Jimmy Morrissey C 75 Adedayo Odeleye DE (Int.) -- Troy Pride CB 38 J. J. Taylor RB 72 Jaylon Thomas G 89 Jared Wayne WR (PS/I) Reserve

25 Grayland Arnold SS (IR) 85 Noah Brown WR (IR)  3 Tank Dell WR (IR) 50 Kendrick Green C (IR) 59 Kenyon Green G (IR) 34 Troy Hairston FB (IR) 92 Dylan Horton DE (NF-Ill.) 71 Tytus Howard T (IR) 41 Jesse Matthews WR (IR) 23 Eric Murray SS (IR) 68 Jarrett Patterson C (IR) 54 Scott Quessenberry G (IR) 84 Teagan Quitoriano TE (IR) 91 Hassan Ridgeway DT (IR) -- D. J. Scaife Jr. G (IR) 29 M. J. Stewart FS (IR)  4 Tavierre Thomas CB (IR)  1 Jimmie Ward FS (IR) 66 Kilian Zierer T (IR) Rookies in italics |

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

In C. J. Stroud's NFL debut, his first completion was to himself, becoming the second quarterback in NFL history to do so, after Brett Favre.

For the second straight week, the Texans had back-to-back upset victories, and improved to 2–2. Former defensive end J. J. Watt was inducted to the Houston Texans Ring of Honor during halftime. Coincidentally, his brother T. J. Watt was playing in this game, though for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With the win, the Texans improved to 3–3 and matched their win total from the previous season.

Placekicker Kaʻimi Fairbairn exited the game at halftime with a quad injury. Running back Dare Ogunbowale handled kickoffs for the Texans during the second half.

Quarterback C. J. Stroud sets the NFL single-game record for passing yards by a rookie with 470 passing yards, surpassing the record set by Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. Despite the Buccaneers taking a 4-point lead with just 46 seconds left, CJ Stroud marched 75 yards down the field to score the game-winning touchdown.

Down 6, the Colts drove the ball to the Houston 15 yard line before failing to convert on 4th and 1 with 1:06 remaining thus sealing the game for the Texans. With the win, the Texans clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2019 and finished the regular season with a record of 10–7. The 10 wins also broke the franchise record for most wins in a season by a first-year head coach. The following day, the Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Tennessee Titans; as a result of the Jaguars' loss, the Texans won the AFC South.

This was the first postseason meeting between the Browns and Texans. During the regular season, the Browns defeated the Texans 36–22 in Houston in Week 16. Deshaun Watson, who was the starting quarterback for Cleveland since 2022, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 10. He was the starting quarterback for Houston from 2017 to 2020.

After a competitive first half that was led by the Texans, they took a commanding lead after the turn of the half, in which Joe Flacco threw back-to-back interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.[24] This was the Texans' first playoff win since the 2019 season.

Despite keeping up with Baltimore in the first half, the Texans failed to score any points in the second half in the blowout loss. With this loss, the Texans remain winless in the Divisional Round and road playoff games, being 0–5, along with remaining winless at M&T Bank Stadium, being 0–8. This was the second postseason meeting between the Ravens and Texans. The Ravens won the first matchup, the 2011 AFC Divisional Game, by a score of 20–13 in Baltimore. In the regular season, the Ravens defeated the Texans by a score of 25–9 in Baltimore in Week 1. Despite a ragged offensive start in the first half, the Ravens outscored the Texans 24–0 in the second half and advanced to their first AFC Championship game since 2012 with a 34–10 rout.

Though not getting a takeaway nor recording a sack on rookie quarterback C. J. Stroud, the Ravens defense dominated Houston. They did not allow any offensive plays by Houston inside the Ravens' 25-yard line nor gave up an offensive touchdown. Houston's only points came by a field goal and a punt return touchdown in the first half. The Baltimore crowd noise also caused a litany of Houston pre-snap penalties.[44]

Lamar Jackson had two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns as he improved to 2–3 in playoff games and 1–2 in home playoff games. This was also the Ravens' first home playoff win since the 2012 AFC Wild Card round.

Source:

• Official website