The Houston Texans are the NFL's newest franchise. With their first season coming in 2002, the Texans don't have nearly the storied history that many other NFL franchises do. As a result, there are a lot fewer options to choose from when looking at the best team in franchise history.
And while the 2018 Texans have my vote for probably the most talented squad in team history, that team would end up losing in the Wild Card round. Instead, I'm taking the 2012 Texans as the best team in the franchise's brief history.
For starters, no Texans team has won more than the 12 games that the team did in 2012, and although they would fall short of the Super Bowl, they made it to the Divisional Round, which is as good as Texans' fans have seen.
The 2012 iteration featured a top-10 offense as well as a top-10 defense, making it one of the most well-rounded teams in franchise history.
The offense, which scored 26.0 points per game (good for eighth-best in the NFL), was led by an elite ground attack spearheaded by an in-his-prime Arian Foster who rushed for 1,424 yards and 15 touchdowns as well as solid contributions from backups Ben Tate and Justin Forsett.
The passing attack, while not as effective as the rushing attack, still definitely had its moments. Quarterback Matt Schaub was never an elite NFL quarterback, but he had some great years in Houston, and 2012 was one of them. In 2012, Schaub completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 4,008 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 12 touchdowns.
Offensive tackle Duane Brown also enjoyed arguably the best season of his career in 2012 when he was named to the All-Pro First Team.
However, part of what made Schaub effective was the fact that he had Andre Johnson to throw the ball to. Johnson was a top-five wideout in the league during the late 2000s and early 2010s, and in 2012, Johnson tallied 112 catches for a career-high 1,598 yards and four TDs.
Other than Johnson, tight end Owen Daniels enjoyed his second Pro Bowl season when he recorded 62 catches for 716 yards and six touchdowns. At the same time, veteran receiver Kevin Walter added 518 yards and two touchdowns in what would be his final season in the NFL.
In addition to the multiple stars on offense, the Texans defense had several key players. However, the unit as a whole was overshadowed by Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt, who, in only his second season, became just the third player since Michael Strahan in 2001 to reach 20 total sacks in a season.
On the opposite side of Watt, veteran Antonio Smith added 30 tackles and seven sacks while a combo of a rookie Whitney Mercilus and Bradie James manned the linebacking corps.
In the secondary, cornerback Jonathan Joseph made his second-straight Pro Bowl while Kareem Jackson led the team with four interceptions and free safety Glover Quinn led the team with 84 total tackles.
The team struggled at times to defend the pass, but in terms of defending the run, Houston allowed the fewest amount of rushing TDs in the league that year and ranked seventh in rushing yards allowed.
While head coach Gary Kubiak was fired after a 2-11 start to the next season, the 2012 season was arguably the peak of Texans football, and despite the lack of postseason success, the 12-win Texans truly seemed like contenders.
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