Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans & QB C.J. Stroud wasn’t prepared to make any excuses after the loss
After surrendering the third-most sacks in the NFL during the 2024 season, the Houston Texans opted to hire a new offensive coordinator and make big changes along their offensive line, banking on a new play-caller and an almost-entirely new group of linemen being able to help third-year quarterback CJ Stroud return to 2023 form. Unfortunately, the opening 60 minutes of the 2025 season didn’t offer much cause for optimism.
In Nick Caley’s debut as the Texans offensive coordinator, Houston could only muster three 1st half field goals, not enough even in a game in which the Los Angeles Rams were held to only 14 points. Many of the problems that plagued Houston last year persisted in Week 1, including an offensive line that couldn’t keep CJ Stroud clean. In total, Stroud was hit 7 times, sacked thrice, and pressured on 41 percent of his dropbacks in the 14-9 loss.
Part of the struggle for the Texans offense could be chalked up to the fact that starting right guard Ed Ingram missed the game with an abdominal injury. It certainly didn’t help matters that starting center Jake Andrews was carted off the field with a high ankle sprain that will likely keep him out of action for a handful of weeks, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC2.
As a result, a significant amount of unexpected re-shuffling forced multiple Texans linemen into positions they weren’t expecting to play and created groups of five that likely hadn’t gotten a lot of reps together throughout training camp. But even with so much volatility, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans wasn’t prepared to make any excuses after the loss.
“Our offensive line was our offensive line,” Ryans said after the game, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. “We had five guys we had out there that were up. Injuries unfortunately happened throughout the week, so shuffling will take place. That’s the NFL. Guys go down, you have to move guys around, and we don’t complain about it. You show up and just get your job done.”
Even under pressure, CJ Stroud — for the most part at least — did get his job done. Stroud finished 9-for-10 for 102 yards passing with an additional 30 yards on the ground on plays when he was under pressure. Yes, there were three sacks in the mix as well, but compared to last season when Stroud developed some very bad habits when under duress, this was a sign of progress for the 23-year-old quarterback.
CJ Stroud Attempts to Instill Confidence in Banged-Up Offensive Line
As DeMeco Ryans himself put it, injuries are “the nature of the league,” but few teams could ill-afford injuries along their offensive line more so than the Texans could. But just because Houston finds themselves in an unenviable position so early in the NFL season, it doesn’t mean that CJ Stroud isn’t going to attempt to build up the confidence of the five guys attempting to protect him… whoever those five guys may be.
“What are you going to complain about it? Or are you going to lie down? Or are you going to go play? So for me, I just try to compete and try to compete as best as I can and show those guys ‘I don’t care who’s in there, I trust in you,'” Stroud said, per Aaron Wilson. “It’s not always easy, but that’s why I’m in the position I am to try to solve some of those issues because everybody deals with injuries.”
Sure, everyone deals with injuries, but the Texans are proving to be a preferred target of the injury bug in the earliest stages of the season. In addition to two offensive lineman, the Texans are already without Joe Mixon for at least the first four weeks of the season, and newly-added wide receiver Christian Kirk wasn’t able to suit up on Sunday due to an iffy hamstring.
Packers’ Colby Wooden Fires Back at Critics After Dominant Run Defense Performance
Micah Parsons, a contrarian opinion had taken hold, too–the Packers defense would get chewed up in the running game.Three days before the Packers were to play the Detroit Lions in their 2025 opener, defensive lineman Colby Wooden got a phone call. It was his father. While much attention had been foisted on the Packers in recent days after the stunning trade for pass-rusher
The Packers had to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, and the feeling was, that would be costly in the team’s efforts to handle the run. Detroit, after all, rushed for 2,488 yards last season, sixth in the NFL. Without Clark, surely the Packers would be in trouble.
Wooden, who is helping replace Clark in the middle, took the call from his dad, who said, “Do me a favor, shut ‘em up.”
And he, along with the entire Packers defensive front, did just that, holding the Lions to 46 yards on 22 carries, their lowest rushing output since Week 6 in 2023. Wooden, Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks held the line admirably in the middle all day for the Packers.
Colby Wooden: ‘I Took That Personal’
Wooden, for one, was insulted by the questions about the team’s inability to hold against the run.
“I for sure took that personal …” Wooden said. “So I just, did my job, went out there, stopped the run. I took it personal. Honestly, I felt like it was kinda disrespectful, like, ‘Oh, they gonna run the ball.’ So I made it my mission—we, excuse me—we made it our mission to shut them down.”
That’s not easy to do against the combo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles.
“We know what they want to do,” Wooden said. “Last year, they wanted to run. They call them Sonic and Knuckles, or whatever. They want to run them 30 times. So we know they want to run that ball. We’ve got to do our job to stop the run so they can get back and let (Parsons) go get them.”
Packers Filling Roles With Micah Parsons on Board
Wooden said the effect of having Parsons on the field was obvious, and it works both ways. When offenses focus on corralling Parsons, the other Packers must step up.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, everybody got a role,” Wooden said. “Everybody’s got to buy into their role. We know what attention and what he comes with. And we know we got to stop that run, go help him out, if he is getting is getting chipped, doubled or whatever, now it’s somebody else’s turn to win their one-on-one.”
Packers Have Commanders Next
And despite the obviously encouraging results, Wooden is not getting ahead of himself. The Commanders will be next on the docket, with fearsome young quarterback Jayden Daniels on hand.
“It’s just one week,” Wooden said. “It’s Week 1. It’s great to start off with a win, dominate. But we’ve got to keep it going. We got a good team coming here on Thursday, we know we got to be ready to stop that run and contain that quarterback. So we just gotta keep going, keep getting better, keep jelling.”
