Notebook: Houston Texans' Playoff Hopes Suffer in Loss to New York Jets

What did we learn from the Houston Texans' loss to the New York Jets on Sunday?

The Houston Texans laid an egg on the road against the New York Jets on Sunday, dropping a 30-6 game at the Meadowlands and seeing their standing in the AFC playoff hunt take a hit.

There were a lot of takeaways to glean from Sunday's game for Houston, the majority of which were negative. If it could go wrong for the Texans, it likely did this week against the Jets, but here are some things we learned from the losing effort in New Jersey.

Dec 10, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) throws the ball during the first half against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports / © Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

1. On an injury-filled day, C.J. Stroud's health looms large.

The Texans were already hurting (literally and figuratively) with key injuries on Sunday, but rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud entering concussion protocol is the largest news of all. To put it lightly, Stroud is the spark that makes this Texans offense go, and even though that unit looked horrendous even when he was healthy on Sunday, in the midst of a playoff race, Houston will need its franchise quarterback to not miss any time moving forward.

2. Speaking of injuries...there are a lot of them.

Stroud, Nico Collins, Dalton Schultz, Blake Cashman, Will Anderson. These are just some of the names that missed significant time on Sunday. Again, it would be one thing if this team didn't have legitimate playoff hopes, but these are very significant losses for Houston if they aren't able to return for a while down the stretch of the season.

Stroud's injury will definitely draw the headlines, but the Texans are banged up at multiple spots, and they need to find a way to get healthy with a critical stretch of the schedule awaiting them.

Injury-Riddled Texans Sputter Offensively, Drop Road Game vs. Jets

3. Sunday's loss could prove to be very detrimental for Houston.

The Texans need to stockpile as many wins as possible as they pursue a playoff spot this season, and dropping a game to a now-5-8 Jets team with no real answer at quarterback is not an opportune time to lay an egg on the road. Things get more difficult on paper for the Texans in the next few weeks, so picking up a win on Sunday would have provided a nice cushion moving forward.

Instead, each of the next few games just became much more important.