Time to panic in Houston? Why C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins and rest of Texans' offense hasn't been able to click

Picture this: after a slant to wide receiver Nico Collins on first-and-goal from the 8-yard line, the Houston Texans found themselves at the one with a chance to take the lead against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night. 

Second-and-goal run to Nick Chubb? No gain. Third-and-goal pass to Collins? Nothing. 

Now it's fourth-and-goal, and the Texans' best plan is … a rollout pass to the left (quarterback C.J. Stroud is right-handed, by the way). Incomplete and the Texans turn it over on downs.

That drive feels like a microcosm of the Texans' offense through the first two games. The beginning of the season hasn't been kind to Houston at all: 14.0 points per game is dead last in the NFL, and they're 29th in total yards per game. 

If advanced stats are more of your thing, the Texans' offense is 26th in offensive EPA per play and 28th in offensive success rate through two games. The Texans have the fifth-highest sack rate allowed in the NFL, and as a whole, the Texans' offense has been exactly the same as it was last season: confused, inefficient and dragging down a defense that is very good. 

So, what's happening with the Texans, and can they solve these problems before it's too late?

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Their biggest issues lie up front, as we thought they would be going into the season. The Texans' inability to run the ball remained a major problem, even with a new center in the game (Jake Andrews didn't play due to injury). The Bucs are a stout bunch to run the ball on, but a 31% success rate and -0.11 EPA per carry ranked 26th and 20th in the NFL this week, respectively. With how often the Texans run the ball on early downs, their inability to get anything positive on the ground puts them into obvious passing situations on second and third downs, when teams can tee off on an offensive line that simply isn't good enough or playing at a high level. 

That leads us to the next problem for the Texans, which is their inability to protect Stroud, especially when blitzed. Stroud has more responsibilities at the line of scrimmage when it comes to setting protections, and so far this season the results have been poor. Whether it's been Stroud calling them the wrong way, the Texans simply not picking up any blitzes or Stroud holding on to the ball too long, the Texans' plan vs. pressure has been poor to start the season. 

Against Tampa, Stroud was sacked three times, two of which came on blitzes, per Pro Football Focus. Some of those blitzes looked like this, a wicked coffeehouse blitz that saw Bucs linebacker Lavonte David bolt into the backfield unopposed:

On plays where the Texans weren't blitzed, linemen would get thrown around like ragdolls, giving up pressures immediately.

Between their inability to run the ball and their propensity for giving up pressure, this is not an NFL-caliber offensive line right now, and that's the one thing I don't think will get better. There are no street free agents who can come in and help this team; every NFL-caliber offensive lineman is already in the NFL. The hope for the Texans is that the offensive line begins to gel and picks it up later in the season, but given the lack of talent of the group, that's more of a hope than an expectation.

Another very sneaky issue for the Texans in their passing game: their non-Nico Collins receiving targets haven't been good enough. Wide receiver Christian Kirk is still nursing an injury and hasn't played this season. Second-round picks Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel are fighting for playing time against Justin Watson. Nobody can get open, and the Texans' passing game continues to struggle. 

With all of this happening around Stroud, he has been forced to hold onto the ball (which was already an issue of his), resulting in too many sacks and negative plays. If you're looking for a culprit for the problems the Texans' offense has had to start the season, the answer is everyone.

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So, how can the Texans dig themselves out of this offensive hole? Well, first of all, they won't have to play the Rams and Buccaneers every week. However, I do think there are some schematic things they can do to help themselves out a lot.

• The first thing is incorporating more play action into their offense. Per Next Gen Stats, the Texans are last in the NFL in play-action rate. I'm not saying play-action is a magical panacea that'll boost the Texans' offense. But for a quarterback and team who can thrive in the middle of the field, getting into heavier looks and throwing out of them using play action could help offset their inability to run the ball. The Chargers have done this really well so far this season; despite not being super effective running the ball (17th in rushing success rate), they're fourth in the NFL in play-action rate and Justin Herbert is shredding teams using play action (0.73 EPA per dropback with play action, third in the NFL). Stroud is actually fifth among qualifying NFL quarterbacks using play action, but he's the only one in the top five with fewer than 10 play-action pass attempts. 
• Another aspect of the Texans' passing offense that I think will help is the incorporation of more screens and designed targets for Collins and Co. The Texans have some athletic guys with the ball in their hands, but their screen game is severely lacking. To make offense a bit easier, Houston can get the ball out quick and use the screen game to supplant the run game until they figure out what's going on.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's time to panic yet. But if the Texans can't figure out how to keep Stroud off the ground, their playoff hopes will end before their passing game has time to get going.