After its 41-28 win over the New England Patriots, the Houston Texans were 5-1 the league’s best red zone offense. A month later and the Texans’ are 6-4 as their touchdown production in the red area has tanked from 75% to 55.8%, the 14th-best rate in the NFL.
“That’s been our problem all year. We’ve got to score points in the red zone,” Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil said after Sunday’s game, via KPRC2′s Aaron Wilson. “We can’t settle for field goals in the red zone. We’ve got to score points.”
Tunsil is partially right. It’s a problem, but the red zone offense wasn’t bad all season. Over the past four weeks Houston has scored a touchdown on 41% of its red zone possessions. Looking at C.J. Stroud’s red zone production in the first six weeks compared to the last four shows just how much Houston has struggled in that area.
Stroud Weeks 1-6: 13-17 (76%), 85 yards, eight touchdowns
Stroud Weeks 7-10: 6-20 (30%), 39 yards, two touchdowns
Stroud hasn’t thrown an interception in the red zone this season, but he’s played considerably worse in the red area over the past month. So what happened?
The first thing that comes to mind is Nico Collins’ absence since Week 5. He led the NFL with 567 receiving yards before going on the injured reserve with a hamstring injury. But even at 6-foot-4, he wasn’t the red zone threat you might think.
He had one catch on seven targets, granted that one catch was a touchdown. Collins has made a living on Stroud’s scramble plays and downfield shots this season. He had eight catches that went for 20-plus yards in five games, which is still the 15th-most in the NFL despite missing the past five games.
