Dec 21, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) and safety Calen Bullock (2) react to a play against the Las Vegas Raiders during the second quarter at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Will Anderson Keeps It Real After Texans' Win vs. Raiders

Originally posted on Houston Texans on SI | By Jared Koch | Last updated Dec 22, 2025 10:42 AM ET

The Houston Texans were able to just enough to get over the hump for another win in Week 16 to make for their seventh straight, taking down the Las Vegas Raiders 23-21, thus taking them to 10-5 on the year.

But even with the end result falling in the Texans' favor, it wasn't their cleanest operation of the season. The offense had a few lapses to overcome early on, their elite defense led up 20-plus points for a second straight week, and against a two-win football team at the end of December like the Raiders, the game turned out to be a bit closer than what many had initially expected coming in.

But for those in the building, like Texans star edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., he's not letting the win overshadow their overall performance throughout the day; one that proved this team can be so much better than they showed over the weekend.

“It’s hard to win this league,” Will Anderson Jr. said after the win, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC2. “With saying that, though, we have a standard in this building to where we want to play at and when we don’t feel like we play to that standard, everybody feels it. Sometimes it feels like, man we didn’t even win the game. That's just how high the standard is."

Will Anderson Jr. Keeps Texans' Standard High

The Texans defense still found some success, even if it wasn't as dominating as usual. Derek Stingley had his first career pick-six in the first quarter, Geno Smith was taken down for three sacks, and while Brock Bowers still hit pay dirt once, he remained pretty quiet on the offensive end (five catches, 33 yards).

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Regardless, the standard that the Texans have set in recent weeks, especially defensively, is sky-high— both outside of the building and inside. So for Anderson, there's certainly more Houston is capable of that wasn't quite on full display this past weekend.

"We can get the outcome you want, but it's so much more for us to be better at. There's so much more for us to clean up; in areas of the run game, too much leaky yardage. staying in our gaps... swarming, like, those are things that we can control, Anderson said. "When we're on our job, we're doing our best, nobody can mess with us."

"Today, sometimes we were at our best, sometimes we were lacking a little bit, so we just got to play consistent and be consistent all over."

Thankfully, the Texans have two more games ahead in the regular season to continue to get more refined before the postseason gets underway. Rest assured that Anderson will be a driving force in trying to get this unit even better.

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

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