Will 0-17 be achieved at the first time of asking?

[ET80]

All things considered... I wouldn't like to have that stigma of going 0-fer, but I don't see the talent, coaching or upcoming schedule that will yield a W. This was the same team that lost to a Brandon Allen-led Bengals team, nearly lost to a Jake Luton-led Jaguars team (and that was with Deshaun Watson having a statistical season that would get him in an MVP conversation has the Texans won more than four games). This defense is made up of a bunch of below average ST bodies, there's nothing on offense outside of a LT and a pretty good WR, and the coaching isn't good enough to scheme out a win.

The only potential W on this schedule is the Jets, and I expect Robert Selah to imprint his brand of discipline into a defense with some really fun parts. The offense won't need much to run circles around a vastly undermanned defense - unless Zach Cunningham turns into Ray Lewis or Derrick Brooks (still don't know if he's playing MLB or SLB) that potential W feels like a loss.

I don't see a dysfunctional franchise with no talent or advance coaching winning anything outside of a coin toss.

[TheKillerNacho]

1 hour ago, ET80 said:

Simply put... who carries this team for four quarters in that one win? 

It will almost certainly require the opponent to be dealing with injuries or playing down to the level of the Texans (looking past them). But these things happen in the NFL commonly. In short, there's enough chaos in the game to allow for it to happen even though it shouldn't, on paper.

[ET80]

4 minutes ago, TheKillerNacho said:

It will almost certainly require the opponent to be dealing with injuries or playing down to the level of the Texans (looking past them). But these things happen in the NFL commonly. In short, there's enough chaos in the game to allow for it to happen even though it shouldn't, on paper.

And I would believe this if there was some competency in the coaching ranks - somebody sees a weakness and exploits it, or they have a deep enough playbook to take advantage of attrition.

I simply don't think the Texans coaching staff (David Culley, Tim Kelly, Lovie Smith) have that - and THAT'S probably the most important part for me. 

It's very likely that the Texans downgraded from their last HC (and we all laid witness to how bad Bill O'Brien was...)

[TakeTheBallDeep]

I bet $20 at 100/1 they go 0-17 on FoxBet and the other day the betting App was offering me $61.98 to cash out haha seems like they are thinking it’s possible 

Obviously every game matters but this could come down to their Week 1 matchup against Jacksonville

[Tk3]

Houston is an awful team, but they are not an outlier awful team

Regular awful teams win 1-3 games, and its truly unusual for the 0 win season to happen

They are CERTAINLY capable of the 0fer, but odds are that whatever QB they have has 3-5 legitimately good games, and the defense will have 3-5 legitimately good games, and those will overlap once and they pull a W

[Uncle Buck]

I think they will probably win a game or two.  I remember last year hoping that the Jets would win a game and everybody kept saying that they were so bad that there was NO way they would win any games.  They ended up winning two.  It just seems like you have to be really bad AND you have to have the "luck" of everything falling into place to go winless.  It could happen, but I think the odds are against it.

[candyman93]

You have to be bad + have bad luck to lose every single game. Texans will win 1 game.

 

In 2017 we almost beat the packers but we gave up a 65 yard punt return. They lost to the Jets 17-14 and had missed 2 field goals, 3 turnovers, and were 0/3 in the red zone.

Edited July 19, 2021 by candyman93

[ronjon1990]

3 hours ago, ET80 said:

Simply put... who carries this team for four quarters in that one win? 

Whichever player has enough in the sack to ensure that the narrative never becomes "See, BoB wasn't that bad"

[ronjon1990]

0-17 will take a long long long time to happen. 

So much has to go wrong to get close to it. Then it's like the football Gods remember that a winless season is a heck of an achievement and make a win happen. 

Bad luck gets you to 0-15. Good luck gets you that last loss or two lol

[ET80]

6 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

Whichever player has enough in the sack to ensure that the narrative never becomes "See, BoB wasn't that bad"

I wish that guy existed on this roster. Closest to it is Tunsil, but that's about it...

[Ray Reed]

They'll beat Jacksonville in one of those matchups, so no

[wackywabbit]

40 minutes ago, Ray Reed said:

They'll beat Jacksonville in one of those matchups, so no

I think the Jags will sweep them, they are a divisional rival and will actually pay attention to games against the Texans for that reason alone. It's usually not another bottom of the league team (not that I limit the Jags to that) that gives a near-winless team a W. Terrible teams get up for other terrible teams to get out of notably bad records. I think it'll more likely be a case of the opposing team not showing up.

I think of the 2007 Ravens as a team as a blueprint of a team that gives up a W to an all-time bad team. They had plenty of talent (loaded on defense at least), but weren't having their season go their way after starting 4-3 and then losing 4 straight. They are 4-7 going into a primetime game against the best/strongest team of the last 30+ years trying to save their season. They have that game won, except that two 4th down stops they got to seal the game didn't count. The way they lose that game and quit on the season after the result makes them an easier matchup than a team that has long accepted that they aren't good. The 2007 Ravens then of course lose the very next week to the 0-13 Dolphins who went 1-15.

Edited July 19, 2021 by wackywabbit

[PFM18]

9 hours ago, Mr Bad Example said:

There have only been 16 game seasons since 1978. There have been plenty of oh-fers before (1976 Buc, 19..61? Cowboys went 0-11-1). 
 

But with a larger sample size, it gets even tougher for statistical anomalies to happen. 

 

6 hours ago, ET80 said:

Three (don't forget the Bucs in the 70s).

My bad. Was thinking of 16 game seasons. 

Still it's a rare occurrence considering how many teams have played how many seasons. 

@ET80 Don't forget you get to play the Colts twice, and who was the one team the Jags beat last season?

We're very good at not playing well against the teams you're expected to beat. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by PFM18

[y*so*blu]

Houston won't go 0-17. You can't disappoint people if you never win at all, and the Texans are nothing if not disappointing.

[ET80]

13 hours ago, y*so*blu said:

Houston won't go 0-17. You can't disappoint people if you never win at all, and the Texans are nothing if not disappointing.

There's sad logic to this...