Justin Reid says Texans are dissimilar to 2020 squad despite having the same record

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Don’t tell Phil Connors, but the Houston Texans have the exact same record as they did last year.

The pathway to 1-4 is the only thing that has been different. Houston started 1-0 with their rookie coach and then caught a four-game losing streak this season. A year ago, Houston began with a four-game losing streak, fired their coach, and got off the schneid with a win in Week 5 with their interim coach.

Safety Justin Reid has been with the Texans since they picked him in Round 3 of the 2018 NFL draft. In his rookie season, Houston rebounded rom an 0-3 start to catch a nine-game winning streak and ultimately win the AFC South. Reid knows when a locker room is able to handle adversity and when it isn’t.

According to the former Stanford product, the veteran leadership is what is keeping the team strong despite the stacking losses.

“The benefit of having such a veteran team is there’s a lot of leaders,” said Reid. “It’s not just me, myself. It definitely makes it easier when there are multiple voices all saying the same thing, as far as staying positive, staying in your keys, not letting the record splinter relationships or divide the locker room. The guys who are still here from last year, there’s not many of us. The guys that are still here from last year, we know what that looks like when the locker room starts to fall apart.”

Even though Houston is 1-4 like last season, Reid says the locker room is much more tightly knit.

Said Reid: “Right now at this point this year and where it was last year, it’s completely different stories. The locker room has definitely held together much more closely this year, and we’ve just got to keep plugging away and have it show up on Sunday.”

According to Reid, there wasn’t really a point that the locker room fell apart, although he notes the dismissal of Bill O’Brien on Oct. 5 was the beginning.

Said Reid: “When your head coach gets fired, that’s when it feels like it starts to process. It’s not like it happens overnight, it’s just a slow creep in.”

Even though Houston has been resilient amid the defeats, they could use a win over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at Lucas Oil Stadium.