USA TODAY predicts Texans go 1-16 in 2021
Want to hear a bold prediction? The Houston Texans will win one game in 2021.
So says Nate Davis from USA TODAY Sports, who released his annual NFL predictions.
Not only do the Texans finish as the worst team in the AFC South, but the Texans finish as the worst team in the league with a 1-16 record, which would be putrid given the NFL is expanding to 17 games. Houston can’t find a way to win two games in 2021?
Watson had his best season statistically in 2020 … yet this team was abject. You shudder to think how it will go now given the increasingly likely odds he won’t play another game for the franchise. Factor in rookie head coach David Culley, who has no pro experience at the coordinator level, and massive turnover — most of the new names forgettable — and the outlook isn’t pretty
The Texans’ two biggest problems that contributed to Watson’s Pro Bowl season being irrelevant were yards per carry surrendered and takeaways. Houston’s defense gave up 5.2 yards per carry, the worst in the NFL, and they procured just nine turnovers, the fewest across the league.
If Houston’s defense can regress to the mean with yards per carry surrendered and takeaways, even with ambiguity at quarterback with Tyrod Taylor and third-round rookie Davis Mills, the Texans should win more than one game.
The negativity is due to the immense questions that surround the team. Ultimately, Houston will have to find a way to answer these problems on paper on the gridiron.
