As the Jacksonville Jaguars prepared to start the 2025 season, most of the NFL seemed to already have decided how it would go. The Houston Texans would win the division for the third year in a row, with Jacksonville maybe coming in second.
Of course, that doesn't mean the Jaguars didn't have much optimism behind them; the signings of Liam Coen and James Gladstone as head coach and general manager were seen as home runs for the franchise, as was trading up to land Travis Hunter in the draft.
The Jaguars are now 2-1, with the defense in particular having made a major turnaround from 2024. The Texans, meanwhile, have majorly struggled. And with their loss to the Jaguars in Week 3, they've fallen to 3-0. It's still early in the season, but all the same, it may be too big a blow for Houston to recover from. Why? Because they seem completely unaware of how dire their situation really is.
Houston doesn't realize how badly Jacksonville beat them
Writing for Yahoo! Sports, Charles McDonald argued that much of the Texans' situation was predictable. Quarterback C.J. Stroud had a great rookie season, but regressed in 2024, and doesn't appear to be getting any better in 2025. One of their major problems has been the offensive line, yet there wasn't much attention placed on that in the offseason.
So, unsurprisingly, it wasn't all that difficult for the Jaguars defense to annihilate the Texans offense. Their defense is still decent, but it's not good enough to overcome the problems on the offense. As McDonald explained:
"The Texans' offense was already bad last year and now has taken another step backward. Almost all of this can be pointed at the baffling offensive line moves. Breaking in a new offensive coordinator in Nick Caley with a young quarterback is already tough enough, but the Texans didn’t give themselves a chance with their decisions up front.
And now it’s a long road back to playoff contention, and the Texans will be facing another offseason where they need to make major changes on offense. It’s just hard to see an offense this bad clawing back from 0-3, even with one of the most talented defenses in the league behind them."
And to make matters worse, DeMeco Ryans seems to live in an alternate universe, judging by his recent comments. He is insisting that the Texans are "close" to being a successful team, but it's hard to figure out why he feels that way.
“We were close in our three games. We were there in the fourth quarter. We were close to finishing and closing those games out. There are plays in each game that we've had, these first three games, that we didn't finish and win the game," he said, adding, "That's what we're here to do. That's what we work tirelessly and hard for is to win football games. So, the games have been close. We've been right there in the games. We just got to find a way to get it done.”
Sure, the Texans have been close to winning - but therein lies a key difference between the Texans and the Jaguars. There have been no shortage of issues from the Jaguars, particularly with penalties, but Jacksonville has managed to find a way to win games, even when they aren't going well. Houston can't seem to figure that part out. And it's for that exact reason that it seems unlikely for the Jaguars' biggest divisional rival to turn things around and become a winning team again.