The Chargers head into Sunday’s matchup with the Texans still looking for their first win of the season, and Houston arrives at SoFi Stadium with a 2-5 record after its bye week. Kickoff is set for Sunday, November 8, at 1:05 pm PT.
Houston sits second in the AFC South, trailing the Jaguars at 5-2 while staying ahead of the Colts at 2-6 and the Titans at 1-7. The Texans have had some uneven stretches, but quarterback C.J.
Stroud has been one of the steadier parts of the operation. He has thrown for 1,867 yards with 11 touchdowns and only one interception, giving Houston a clean, efficient presence under center even as the offense has been inconsistent overall.
The unit ranks 18th in scoring.
The ground game, though, has been a real problem. Houston ranks 29th in the league with 84.7 rushing yards per game, and running back David Montgomery has not been able to provide much of a lift since being acquired in an offseason trade with the Lions.
He’s averaging just 2.7 yards per carry and has also missed time because of injury. Woody Marks leads the Texans on the ground with 271 rushing yards on 77 carries.
Defensively, Houston has taken a noticeable step back from where it was a year ago. After finishing last season as the NFL’s top defense, the Texans now rank 19th in both total defense and scoring defense. DeMeco Ryans took over play-calling responsibilities from defensive coordinator Matt Burke after the team’s 0-4 start, but the unit is still trying to find consistency.
Even with those issues, there is still one obvious strength on that side of the ball. Will Anderson Jr. is tied for the NFL lead with 7.5 sacks, and Pro Football Focus has him graded at 90.8 overall on defense, second among qualified edge defenders, along with a 90.3 run-defense grade, also second at his position.
In Other News...
Justin Herbert Faces A Bigger Chargers Problem Than Rival Trash Talk
A week after a loss, Justin Herbert found himself answering for more than the Chargers record. Rams safety Quentin Lake took aim at the quarterbacks recent play, and the comments quickly turned into another layer of scrutiny around a season that has already left Los Angeles searching for answers. Jim Harbaugh stepped in to defend Herbert, while Herbert said he had not even been aware of what was said, a reminder that the noise around the team is growing louder than the results on the field.
For Herbert, the larger issue is not a rivals criticism so much as the way the Chargers have looked while staying winless. The conversation has shifted from isolated mistakes to a broader concern about whether the offense is getting enough from its franchise quarterback, and whether the team can stabilize before the outside chatter starts to feel like the easy part of the problem. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Herbert And The Chargers Are Now Getting Mocked By Opponents
The Chargers latest loss only added to the frustration around a season that has gone off the rails, and it also produced an unflattering side note for Justin Herbert. After the Rams beat Los Angeles, Rams safety Quentin Lake had plenty to say about Herberts passing game, turning a routine rivalry result into another reminder of how rough things have become for the Chargers offense.
Herbert finished 24 of 32 for 257 yards, but the numbers came with two interceptions and no touchdowns, and the Chargers remain stuck at the bottom of the league in scoring. For a team already searching for answers at 0-7, getting mocked by an opponent after the fact is the kind of extra sting that tends to linger. [Read more 🡒]
Harbaugh Doubles Down As Chargers Offense Faces Early Pressure
The Chargers are still searching for their first win, and Jim Harbaugh is not making a change at the top of the offense. He confirmed that Mike McDaniel will keep calling plays, a sign the team is sticking with its current structure even as the early-season pressure grows around a unit that has yet to find its footing.
That leaves the focus on execution rather than a shakeup, with the burden shifting back to the players to sort out what has gone wrong. Around the division, the conversation is already turning to other quarterbacks and other fronts, but for the Chargers the immediate question remains whether this offense can settle in before the frustration starts to build even more. [Read more 🡒]