Titans×2 Coltsx2 Jaguarsx2 Road games Bills Browns Cardinals Dolphins 49ers Home Games Seahawks Rams Chargers Patriots Jets Panthers could be the 17th game https://www.houstontexans.com/news/2021-opponents-had-combined-record-of-132-124-in-2020 Pretty brutal schedule in my opinion
*On paper*... This is how I'd tier it: I. They are not beating (3): Bills, Seahawks, Rams II. They are probably not beating but did only lose by 3 this past season (1): Browns They are probably not beating but did only lose all 4 games by a combined 19 this past season (4): Titans×2, Coltsx2 III. Total wild cards (3): Cardinals, Chargers, Dolphins IV: I don't know if they are better but they have a better QB than (1): 49ers V. They are better than (4): Jaguarsx2, Patriots, Jets ----- I don't think finding 7-to-9 wins - *right now* - is terribly difficult. It's a tough schedule - but not an overly tough schedule.
Division games: Titans and Colts are in our division and both are in the 2020 playoffs. Both look really strong. Jaguars will have Trevor Lawrence. Road games: Bills look like the hottest team in the league. Browns are in the playoffs. Cardinals almost made it. Dolphins almost made it. 49ers were still really competitive, despite having a patchwork team. Home games: Seahawks are in the playoffs. So are the Rams. Chargers are stacked and will be a force. Patriots and Jets stink, but I wouldn't count out Belichick. Panthers were without McCaffrey, like all season. Honestly, I could see us winning against the Jaguars twice, the Patriots and the Jets. So that's at least 4 games. You're absolutely right. Brutal schedule. And we didn't even draw the Chiefs, Ravens or Steelers.
Texans should go at least 2-2 against the Titans/Colts. I mean we almost beat them 4x this year alone.
I could see 5-7 wins. If things go south for some reason then we will have a high draft choice at least.
Damn wish the Cardinals was a home game. Would be fun to watch our non existent secondary try to cover Hopkins. He might set an nfl record that day.