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Nov 9, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans tight end Dalton Schultz (86) runs after the catch against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth quarter at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Dalton Schultz Says Texans Let Golden Opportunity Slip

Originally posted on Houston Texans on SI
By Keith Cummings | Last updated Feb 9, 2026 5:58 PM ET

In so many ways, the 2025 version of the Houston Texans was a classic case of a team which could ultimately only go as far as their quarterback was capable of taking them.

Sadly, star quarterback C.J. Stroud came up short when it came to playing to the Texans' defensive strengths, and the turnover-prone failings to follow added further insult to injury.

Hindsight is always 20/20, so who knows if Stroud might have fared better against the New England Patriots if only prolific pass-catching tight end Dalton Schultz hadn't left the game in the first quarter.

Schultz himself broached the issue the other day, and his revelation that he was central to the Texans' game plan is bound to sting just a little more in general terms.

“The results are what they are. And I feel like—I’ve told him this when he came in—it’s like, ‘Dude, everything is going to fall on you, good or bad. And you got to be the leader to be able to take it and roll, again, whether it’s good or bad,” Schultz told SportsRadio 610 this week.

“Obviously, I think, just the results of that game, it’s hard to pin it all on him. As a player, in my eyes, that game is my fault. I left the game in the first quarter, you know what I mean? That was a big game plan for me, and I wasn’t able to be out there. And my process was exactly the same that I’ve done all year, every year. And I look back, and I’m like, ‘Well, shoot. Obviously, I didn’t do enough to get my body where it needed to be in that moment.”

Dalton Schultz Learning From This Season's Mistakes

Truth is, the Texans needed to play better straight from the start against the Patriots on their home turf, and it's not like Drake Maye and Co. didn't give them plenty of opportunities to capitalize along the way.

Schultz certainly doesn't sound like he's gotten over the way that he and the Texans scripted their own decline right from the get-go, but he knows how valuable lessons must also be learned.

“I look at that film again. I should have done way more on the front end,” Schultz lamented. “If you have a bunch of guys that go and look at that, realize the same thing, and come together and find a way to just build on the good and learn from the bad in going into next year, it’s all you can do, dude.”

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Ironically enough, overcoming poor starts was coming to define the Texans' entire season, particularly after they stumbled out of the gates to a 0-3 record before mounting a great recovery to make the playoffs.

Therefore, Schultz feels this team is well-positioned to recover once again from the heavy doses of adversity that's coming straight at them, and inevitably at Stroud in particular.

“It’s just noise, dude. Everybody was also calling for everybody’s jobs, everybody to be fired when you’re 0-3. It’s the same as our job as players and everybody else,” Schultz said. “That’s not our focus. That’s not our job."

"Our job is to go out there and perform, make sure we’re good. So again, it’s noise, dude. Whether you believe in him or not, does that affect whether he’s gonna be the same player, a better player? That has no effect on him, right? None of that affects the process of whether he’s truly going to grow or not.”

Most soberingly for the Texans, Stroud getting over the catastrophic set of events which transpired in Foxborough is absolutely far from a given; his mental strength will be brutally tested moving forward.

In fairness, you get the very real sense that the Texans to a man feel deep down that they let a real golden opportunity to go all the way to the show slip right through their fingers. Indeed, you can almost taste the saltiness pouring off Schultz, but maybe pure envy can snap him back into a rather sharp focus?

“It sucks, because there’s one team that’s on top. And we feel like we had a team to challenge that spot, and we didn’t perform in that game,” Schultz said. “We came [to Santa Clara for the Super Bowl] because I love being in the Bay. But being reminded that we fell short, especially this year? Because everybody realized what we had, and how good of a team we had, and the opportunity that we had."

"To come up short, not have that, I think, feels extra. Dude, it’s a sucker punch. Truly, I still haven’t gotten over it, to be honest.”

When you stop to look at the far bigger picture; Stroud isn't the only one who's badly hurting on this underachieving Texans team right now.

This article first appeared on Houston Texans on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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