Texans hoping for bye-week surge
Under head coach Bill O'Brien, the Texans have historically experienced a bye week surge, winning more games in the second half of the season. Houston holds a 2-0 record following the bye and is 11-4 all-time in the second eight games of the season under O'Brien. 
"I think one thing that has been a common theme is basically when you go into the bye with a win, I think that helps," O'Brien said Monday. "We beat a good Detroit team. I mean yesterday they went and they beat Minnesota. They're a good football team, so I think our team feels good about that. They also know that there's a lot of improvement that we can make."
The Texans have always won their last game, heading into the bye week. In 2014, Houston defeated the Browns 23-7 in Cleveland, knocking them out of first place in the AFC North. In 2015, the Texans turned around their 3-5 season with a 10-6 win over the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals. The Texans finished 6-2 after the bye week last year, and won their division. 
The one major difference is that the second half of the 2016 season is the lack of home games, with four of the next five games on the road. The Texans will travel to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars in Week 10. The Jaguars are coming off a 19-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. 
"When you look at Jacksonville, they've had some very, very close games," O'Brien said. "They've lost some close games like yesterday. Very close. They've won a couple of close games. We know that this is going to be a very, very difficult challenge for us in Jacksonville. Got a lot of good athletes, fast team, and good players on both sides of the ball. We have to have a good week of practice and be well prepared for this game."

Under head coach Bill O'Brien, the Texans have historically experienced a bye-week surge, winning more games in the second half of the season. Houston holds an 11-4 record in their post-bye week matchups in the O'Brien era.
 

"I think one thing that has been a common theme is basically when you go into the bye with a win, I think that helps," O'Brien said Monday. "We beat a good Detroit team. I mean yesterday they went and they beat Minnesota. They're a good football team, so I think our team feels good about that. They also know that there's a lot of improvement that we can make."
 
In the last two seasons with O'Brien, the Texans have won their game immediately following the bye week. In 2014, Houston defeated the Browns 23-7 in Cleveland, knocking them out of first place in the AFC North. In 2015, the Texans turned around their 3-5 season with a 10-6 win over the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals. The Texans finished 6-2 after the bye week last year, and earned a playoff berth after winning the division. 
 
The one major difference this year is the schedule, with four of the next five games on the road. The Texans will travel to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars in Week 10. The Jaguars are coming off a 19-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. 
 
"When you look at Jacksonville, they've had some very, very close games," O'Brien said. "They've lost some close games like yesterday. Very close. They've won a couple of close games. We know that this is going to be a very, very difficult challenge for us in Jacksonville. Got a lot of good athletes, fast team, and good players on both sides of the ball. We have to have a good week of practice and be well prepared for this game."

The Texans returned to practice at the Houston Methodist Training Center on Monday.