The 2015 season was the Houston Texans' 14th in the National Football League (NFL) and their second under head coach Bill O'Brien.
This season was the first since 2002 that Andre Johnson was not on the team's opening day roster.
Houston started the season going into their bye week at 3–5, including blowout losses to the Atlanta Falcons (48–21) and against the Miami Dolphins (44–26). However, the Texans had a surge in the second half of the season, going 6–2 after the bye. The 2015 season marked the first time the Texans beat the Colts in Indianapolis, helped in part by third–string quarterback Brandon Weeden. The Texans matched their win total from the 2014 season, finishing 9–7, and gained their first division title and postseason trip since 2012, but were shutout, 30–0, at home by the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round.
The 2015 Houston Texans were featured on the HBO documentary series Hard Knocks.
2015 draft class
Staff
Final roster
Schedule
Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 San Francisco 49ers W 23–10 1–0 NRG Stadium Recap 2 Denver Broncos L 10–14 1–1 NRG Stadium Recap 3 August 30 at New Orleans Saints W 27–13 2–1 Mercedes-Benz Superdome Recap 4 at Dallas Cowboys L 14–21 2–2 AT&T Stadium Recap
Regular season Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 September 13 Kansas City Chiefs L 20–27 0–1 NRG Stadium Recap 2 September 20 at Carolina Panthers L 17–24 0–2 Bank of America Stadium Recap 3 September 27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 19–9 1–2 NRG Stadium Recap 4 October 4 at Atlanta Falcons L 21–48 1–3 Georgia Dome Recap 5 Indianapolis Colts L 20–27 1–4 NRG Stadium Recap 6 October 18 at Jacksonville Jaguars W 31–20 2–4 EverBank Field Recap 7 October 25 at Miami Dolphins L 26–44 2–5 Sun Life Stadium Recap 8 November 1 Tennessee Titans W 20–6 3–5 NRG Stadium Recap 9Bye 10 at Cincinnati Bengals W 10–6 4–5 Paul Brown Stadium Recap 11 November 22 New York Jets W 24–17 5–5 NRG Stadium Recap 12 November 29 New Orleans Saints W 24–6 6–5 NRG Stadium Recap 13 December 6 at Buffalo Bills L 21–30 6–6 Ralph Wilson Stadium Recap 14 December 13 New England Patriots L 6–27 6–7 NRG Stadium Recap 15 December 20 at Indianapolis Colts W 16–10 7–7 Lucas Oil Stadium Recap 16 December 27 at Tennessee Titans W 34–6 8–7 Nissan Stadium Recap 17 January 3 Jacksonville Jaguars W 30–6 9–7 NRG Stadium Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Postseason
Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Recap Wild Card Kansas City Chiefs (5) L 0–30 0–1 NRG Stadium Recap
Game summaries
Regular season
Week 1: vs. Kansas City Chiefs
In the 2015 season opener, the Houston Texans took on the Kansas City Chiefs with Brian Hoyer in his first regular season start as the Texans' quarterback. Hoyer's first pass was intercepted which eventually led to a Kansas City touchdown. The Chiefs managed to score another 7 points off of turnovers to take a 14–0 lead with 4:28 left in the first. Houston finally managed to get on the board late in the 1st quarter following a 4-yard pass to DeAndre Hopkins from Hoyer. With Randy Bullock missing the extra point the Texans trailed 14–6 with 0:46 left in the 1st. Following another dismal quarter for the Texans, Kansas City led 27–9 at halftime. Houston managed to shut out the Chiefs for the entire second half and with almost 6 minutes left in the game brought Ryan Mallett in as quarterback, who led the team on two scoring drives. Nonetheless the Texans couldn't manage a comeback and fell to the Chiefs 27–20.
Game notes This is the first time since 2009 where the Texans lost their season opener. Houston kicker Randy Bullock became the first player to miss a point-after attempt following a rule change for the 2015 season, which requires the ball to be snapped from the 15-yard line.
Week 2: at Carolina Panthers
Ryan Mallett was given the starting quarterback position against the Panthers. The Texans' only lead of the game came in the first quarter following a 43-yard field goal from Randy Bullock. Following 10 unanswered points from Carolina in the 2nd quarter, Houston trailed 3-10 going into halftime. Early in the third quarter Houston tied the game at 10 a piece. A Carolina touchdown late in the 3rd quarter and another early in the 4th sealed a Panthers victory as the Texans couldn't manage a comeback. With the loss Houston dropped to 0–2, their worst start since the 2008 season.
Week 3: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Texans hosted the 1-1 Buccaneers at home, looking for their first win of the 2015 season. Both Houston and Tampa Bay punted the ball on their first possession, before Houston scored first with Ryan Mallett connecting with DeAndre Hopkins for a 5-yard touchdown pass. With Randy Bullock's extra point good, the Texans took a 7–0 lead with 4:58 left in the first quarter. Tampa Bay managed to get on the board with their first possession of the 2nd quarter, with Kyle Brindza making a 58 yard long field goal to trail 3–7. Both teams punted on their next possession, with the Texans committing the first turnover of the day with a Ryan Mallett pass being intercepted by Kwon Alexander. The Buccaneers capitalized on the turnover in just 50 seconds, with Jameis Winston throwing a 32-yard pass to Charles Sims. With Brindza missing the extra point, Tampa Bay led Houston 9–7 with 3:51 left in the half. Receiving the ball back, Bullock missed a 43-yard field goal.
Tampa Bay received the ball to start the 2nd half, however Winston threw an interception that was caught by Quintin Demps. The Texans settled for 3 points off the turnover with Bullock making a 34-yard field goal. The kicking problems continued for the Buccaneers after Brindza missed a 41-yard field goal with 7:21 left in the 3rd, then again from 33 yards with 10:56 left to play. Following another missed field goal for Tampa Bay, Houston went 77 yards in just 5 plays to score a touchdown with an Alfred Blue 20 yard rush. With Bullock missing his 2nd extra point attempt of the season, the Texans extended their lead to 16–9 with 9:19 left to play. The Texans extended their lead with a 19-yard field goal from Bullock to lead 19–9 with 1:15 left to play. With Brindza missing his 3rd field goal of the day (this time from 57 yards), the Texans held on to secure their first win of the season. The Buccaneers were completely shut out during the second half while the Texans scored 12 unanswered points.
Week 4: at Atlanta Falcons
Ryan Mallett was named the starting quarterback for the 3rd straight game of the 2015 season for Houston. After a dismal 1st half, the Falcons led the Texans 28–0. In the fourth quarter with the Texans trailing 42–0, Mallett was pulled in favor of Brian Hoyer. Hoyer immediately performed better, passing for 2 touchdowns. However, to add insult to injury on what was already a bad day, with 1 second left to play on 4th and goal, Houston fumbled the ball with Nathan Stupar recovering it for an 84-yard touchdown. Taking the knee on a two-point conversion, the Falcons finished with a 48–21 victory.
With the disappointing loss, the Texans fell to 1–3.
Week 5: vs. Indianapolis Colts
Despite a dismal performance four days earlier, Ryan Mallett was named the starter for the Texans. On the other side, Andrew Luck was inactive for the second week in a row, nursing a shoulder injury. Despite suffering from a viral infection, Matt Hasselbeck was named the starting quarterback for the Colts.
Off to a promising start, Houston turned over the ball inside the red zone after a Mallett pass to Arian Foster was tipped and caught by Mike Adams. Indianapolis capitalized on the turnover with a 48-yard field goal from Adam Vinatieri to take a 3–0 lead with 6:32 left in the 1st. The Colts further extended their lead with a 4-yard pass from Hasselbeck to former Texan Andre Johnson to lead 10–0 with 1:27 left in the first. Ending the 1st quarter, Houston trailed 0–10 with the ball on their own 34.
On their second play of the 2nd quarter, the Texans punted the ball away on 4th and 1. Houston caught a break following a chop-block penalty against Frank Gore that made it 1st and 25 for Indianapolis near midfield. On 3rd and 22 a roughing the passer call against J. J. Watt gave the Colts a 1st down that put them in the red zone. On 3rd down Hasselbeck threw to T. Y. Hilton, who dropped the ball for an incomplete pass. After the play, Indianapolis head coach Chuck Pagano drew a 15-yard penalty after rushing the field. After a series of penalties, the Colts settled for a 42-yard Vinatieri field goal to lead 13–0 with 7:41 remaining in the half. A roughing the passer call against the Colts gave the Texans an automatic 1st down on what would have been 3rd down. After Mallett was slow to get up, Brian Hoyer came in at the quarterback position. On 3rd and 10 Hoyer picked up the 1st down passing 24 yards to DeAndre Hopkins. Hoyer connected with Hopkins once again to pick up a long 1st down conversion to put the Texans in the red zone. A chop block penalty pushed Houston back to the 31 for a 2nd and 21. Houston finally got on the board with a 36-yard field goal from Nick Novak to trail 3–13 with 2:08 left in the first half. With no timeouts left, Hoyer completed a 95-yard drive with a 42-yard Hail Mary pass to Jaelen Strong to trail 9-13. With Novak's kick good, Houston trailed Indianapolis 10-13 going into halftime.
Receiving the ball to start off the first half, the Colts quickly marched down field to score a touchdown on the opening play. With 13:02 left in the 3rd, Indianapolis extended their lead to 20–10. The Texans were not as lucky as an offensive pass-interference call against Hopkins put Houston into a three-and-out. On the Colts' next possession Houston's defense forced them into their first 3-and-out of the night. On the Texans' next possession Hoyer connected with Strong once again for a touchdown. With Novak making the extra point, Houston trailed 17–20 with 4:03 left in the 3rd. Making their first 3rd conversion of the night, the Colts continued to march down the field to hold their 20–17 lead at the end of the 3rd.
With a face-mask penalty called against Jadeveon Clowney, the Colts came closer to the Houston red zone. However, on the next play an offside penalty was called against Indianapolis. An interception was over-called following a holding penalty against Houston. On the next play the Texans were penalized again with a pass interference call against Kareem Jackson, making it 1st and goal from the Houston 1 for the Colts. Hasselbeck connected with Johnson to make it 26–17. With Vinatieri making the extra point, Indianapolis extended their lead to 27–17 with 10:28 left to play. Receiving the ball, Foster gained 32 yards to put Houston into Indianapolis territory, keeping hopes of a comeback alive. The Texans ended the drive with a 49-yard field goal from Novak to trail 20–27 with 6:07 left to play. Houston kicked the ball back to Indianapolis, who took the touchback. The Colts punted the ball back with 3:39 left to play, with the Texans returning it to their own 36. By the 2-minute warning Houston had reached Indianapolis territory at the Colts' 38. On the play following the 2 minute warning, Hoyer threw an interception that was picked off by Adams. Indianapolis held onto the ball and ran the clock out to win, 27–20.
Week 6: at Jacksonville Jaguars