Rams' Opening Opponent Named Super Bowl Threat

The back-to-back AFC South-winning Houston Texans are a team looking to evolve their football product, thus hiring Rams' tight ends coach Nick Caley as their offensive coordinator as Sports' Illustrated's Albert Breer named them a suprise team that the media isn't talking enough about.

"I don’t think I’d call the Houston Texans a “surprise” team, but given how over-discussed these things wind up being between February and July, I think they’re a team that isn’t getting enough attention," wrote Breer. "Yes, they’ve won 10 games two consecutive years. And, yet, I don’t know that people see them as a real threat to break into the top tier of the AFC."

"However, they could be a threat: They have a young, rising defense capable of being the NFL’s best and have aggressively changed things on offense, where they have C.J. Stroud to build around."

"They also have the culture and talent where they want it on defense, and have a great foundation to match that on offense. Nick Caley’s coming in from the Rams. They have Nico Collins and Joe Mixon. They’ll be waiting, and maybe until 2026, on Tank Dell, but they signed Christian Kirk, and drafted both Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel in the top 80. The big question, of course, is replacing Laremy Tunsil, but they do have numbers at tackle (Tytus Howard, Cam Robinson, Trent Brown, Aireontae Ersery)."

"They also, for what it’s worth, with all their issues last year, took the Kansas City Chiefs into the fourth quarter at Arrowhead in the divisional round. That was without Dell and without Stefon Diggs, too. All of this tells me that if they can suitably replace Tunsil (and that’s a big if), then I don’t see much reason why they shouldn’t have the expectations they had in 2024."

Here's the good news. The Texans could become a surprise team, but the Rams are already an established unit. Sure, Caley knows Chris Shula's scheme, but the Texans have an offensive line trying to find themselves, and scheme isn't going to stop Jared Verse and company from messing up your day.

The Rams got lucky that they got a Texans team on the rise early, but the truth is, this is no reason why the Rams shouldn't be 1-0 after their opening contest.