The good news with the Kansas City Chiefs edging the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 is it wipes the slate clean for 2023. Everybody is 0-0 again.
For the Houston Texans, starting anew still has them among the bottom-5 teams in the NFL.
According to Mark Lane from the Touchdown Wire, the Texans are No. 29 in the site’s admittedly “way too early” post Super Bowl power rankings.
The Texans infused a little optimism hiring, not only a former Pro Bowler of their own, but one of the best assistant coaches in 2022. [DeMeco] Ryans hopes to resurrect the glory years of the Gary Kubiak era and extend the ceiling. The first job is to figure out what to do at quarterback. Good thing Houston has two first-round picks.
The Texans are at least trending in the right direction, which is partly why there are positive feelings radiating from NRG Stadium. Nevertheless the club is still in a “put up or shut up” year for general manager Nick Caserio, who is on his third coach in as many years on the job. If the Texans don’t start showing progress, they will be considered another bottom-5 team, and that could cause a tectonic shift in the front office.
Even with the Texans in the market for a new quarterback, they have a face emerging on offense in Dameon Pierce. Despite being limited to 13 games, the rookie generated 939 rushing yards and six touchdowns. What could Pierce actually do in an offense predicating on running the football?
Across the rest of the AFC South, the Indianapolis Colts were listed as the worst team in the power rankings, which is befitting of a team that has yet to hire a coach this late into the offseason and has more question marks at quarterback than the Riddler’s suit. The Tennessee Titans were listed No. 19. The Jacksonville Jaguars cracked the top-10, and their placement that far into the power rankings calls into question how dominant the 2022 division champions can remain when the fall arrives.
