Our final 2026 NFL Season Preview feature is an extensive look at the player under the most pressure this season: Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Our two-parter on this team’s defense — OUTLAWS — is right here as well, icymi.
Links to all summer features are below. Thank you for making our longform part of your life.
In an alternative universe, one within the realm of reality, the scene inside Levi’s Stadium looks quite different at the conclusion of Super Bowl LX. The Houston Texans outlast the Seattle Seahawks in a 12-round bareknuckle brawl for the ages. Bodies stagger. Wounds hemorrhage. Butkus and Nitschke and Deacon Jones smile from above as two defenses straight out of our grandfather’s NFL preserve the violence of football in all its forgotten glory.
The Texans are victorious and there is no debate.
They’re universally crowned one of the greatest defenses in league history.
Azeez Al-Shaair takes the microphone. He’s choked up. Not too long ago, Park Avenue suits cast him a villain unfit for its league. Now, look at him. A champion. The kid who saved his brothers and niece from a burning house, whose family of 11 then crammed into an extended-stay motel at $370 per week, who rode the city bus 2 ½ hours to school because he needed to drop those two little bros off at elementary school is now immortalized as one the generation’s most feared linebackers.
Will Anderson Jr. is announced as the Super Bowl MVP. This monster of a man was once the runt of the family, tortured by his five older sisters. It’s their fault he’s afraid of the dark. Back in Hampton, Ga., they’d shove him into a closet and lean against the door so he wouldn’t escape. Or lock him into their dungeon of a basement. Or dress him up in a giraffe costume and push him into the backyard with the family’s three pit bulls. After screaming, “I’m going to Disneyland!” into a camera lens, Anderson is surrounded by those sisters on the field. He hugs them, kisses them, thanks them for all the tough love.
The party rages on inside the locker room. At the vortex of a champagne whirlpool, IG Live catches one player spouting off a viral one-liner that perfectly encapsulates this curb-stomping. Naturally, it’s Kamari Lassiter. The kid who started playing tackle football at 4 years old and has been suplexing fools ever since. He once told us he’d give his “life” to this sport.
Finally, a nickname sticks. Maybe they’re the savages, as coined by safety Calen Bullock. Maybe the ‘25 Texans is enough.
We should be able to remember this defense in such fashion.
This would’ve been justice in American Football.
Because — when history books are written? — this may go down as the defense that broke the generation’s greatest talent: Patrick Mahomes.
I know, I know. He’s a deity. Doubting the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback is heresy that warrants a thorough burning at the stake. There’s always been unparalleled wizardry to his dominance. He may go down as the greatest player of all-time. But en route to his fifth Super Bowl appearance the season prior, in 2024, this Houston defense made him look… ordinary. Specific principles — call ‘em the “Mahomes Rules” — utilized by head coach DeMeco Ryans, defensive coordinator Matt Burke and this ransacking Texans defense in those games were implemented by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, sources from both teams confirm. The Eagles leaned into the Texan blueprint and the result was carnage. At halftime, Philly had more points (24) than KC had yards (23). Mahomes’ passer rating was 10.7. Mahomes didn’t even cross the 50-yard line until his team trailed, 34-zip.
This was Michael Jordan going 3 for 28 in a Game 7. This was Tiger Woods quadruple-bogeying the 16th hole at Augusta. (We’ll get to those specific rules later.)
Philadelphia, not Houston, was worshipped for authorizing a defensive masterpiece.
The next season, the Texans treated Josh Allen like a piñata, put a dagger in Mahomes’ Chiefs season, body-bagged Aaron Rodgers in the wild card round and then headed to Foxborough with their own eyes set on immortality. Three more wins and they’d unquestionably join the ’85 Bears, 2000 Ravens and 2013 Seahawks as an all-time defense. We told the story of this Texans defense with this two-part series.
Instead, they lost.
Instead, the defense in Seattle is lionized. Seattle wins the Super Bowl. From his home, one offensive coach on this Houston staff watched Seattle thump New England 29-13 and the room went silent. His wife finally spoke up. “You guys really fucked it up,” she told him.
Into the offseason, rent was due. Anderson received the richest non-QB contract in NFL history. Danielle Hunter was re-signed. Al-Shaair inked a new deal, too. The franchise operated with maximum urgency on this side of the ball.
Over on offense, however, one player did not receive a new contract.
It’s no coincidence that this same player cost the team its season.
Nobody in the NFL faces more pressure to perform than the quarterback in Houston.
All 32 starters carry a burden on their shoulders. It’s the nature of the profession.
Nobody, period, has more at stake than C.J. Stroud.
Inside today’s story:
Where have things gone wrong for the 2023 offensive rookie of the year? And what’s the key to Stroud becoming everything we thought he’d be?
Insight from Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Warren Moon.
How has this Texans D made Mahomes look human? The rest of the NFL watched closely.
Driver vs. Irons dilemma for OC Nick Caley.
Why nobody should expect regression from this rabid Houston defense.
The hidden trait inside Stroud the Texans must unlock in 2026.
GM Nick Caserio did not slide a blank check across the negotiating table. Instead, the Texans eliminated all possible excuses around the quarterback position with another round of signings, trades and firings. This is Year 4. If Stroud excels, he could earn himself a contract worth $60 million per year. Not too long ago, Hall of Famers like Kurt Warner were in awe. This flame-throwing rookie appeared destined for greatness. If he falters, he won’t get a new contract and, odds are, the Texans will have no choice but to scramble for a new QB1 while they can with this defense.
Both outcomes are possible.
This summer, Go Long canvassed the league — including sources who’ve been around the QB up close — to see which path he takes.
A team can only do so much around the quarterback position.
Stroud must make his move in 2026. This is the most consequential season of his football life.