The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2026 Football Preview. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps, as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2026 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Houston Texans performed from a penalty perspective in 2025 and where they can improve in 2026.
Houston Texans 2026 Penalty Outlook: Discipline, Flags & Hidden Edges
The Good
- An above-average 41.5% of automatic first downs surrendered by the Houston defense occurred on less punitive first-down plays, significantly higher than the NFL average of 30.9%.
- The offense was a top-five unit in generating beneficial automatic first downs via penalty.
- The offense was the No. 1 beneficiary of defensive holding penalties and second overall as a beneficiary of illegal contact penalties.
- Special teams was a bottom-five penalized unit.
The Bad
- Houston’s offense accounted for an above-average 53% of the team's overall penalties, including ranking No. 1 for intentional grounding and illegal shift infractions.
- The Texans averaged the most first-quarter penalties per game in 2025.
- The Texans were a top-10 penalized team for offensive holding, although a major positive is that they ranked as one of the least penalized in this category on third-down plays.
- The Texans were the No. 1 penalized team for illegal use of hands.
Grade: B+
The Texans' season ended in the Divisional Round for the third consecutive year, with failures on the offensive side of the ball ultimately bringing their demise at the hands of the Patriots.
The offseason saw Houston’s front office focus on offensive line improvement, and they're banking on those investments paying immediate dividends.
The Texans boast the league's best defense and should be the favorites to recapture the AFC South title, but that is contingent on C.J. Stroud having a major rebound season.
This year feels like a fork-in-the-road season for Houston.
Can they overcome the Divisional Round roadblock and advance to the AFC Championship for the first time in franchise history?
This analysis continues in the 2026 Football Preview
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Warren Sharp’s 600+ page full-color PDF, the 2026 Football Preview, is unlike anything you have read. Stunning visualizations, including new heat maps and stat pages, are built with the reader in mind. Innovative, next-level thought processes abound in every team chapter and article.
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Warren Sharp's book shares insights into the players, coaches, teams, and philosophies with one goal: to prepare you for the 2026 NFL season with the smartest information delivered in the fastest, most direct way possible for optimal reviewing and retention.
- Team Chapters previews are in-depth, data-driven & full of actionable info
- Fantasy Football player profiles, predictions, and ranks
- Vegas Odds forecast team wins, division rankings, lines for all 2026 games
- Coaching strategic advice for teams, play-calling analysis & team tendencies
- Front Office Analysis positional spending, roster construction & cap analysis
- Reasons to bet over/under win totals & analysis of futures betting market
- Rookie draft class deep dive into impact for every team
- Rankings for every positional unit on every team with analysis
- Penalty analysis for all 32 NFL teams