The Houston Texans will begin their 19th season in franchise history where their fourth trip to the divisional playoffs ended: Kansas City. The AFC South champions will play foil to the Super Bowl LIV champions on NBC in the Thursday night opener on NBC to kickoff the 2020 season.
Here are four takeaways from the 2020 slate.
1. Not ready for primetime?
The only game the Texans will play under the lights, at least for now, is Week 1 in Kansas City, which is a baffling development.
Consider that in 2018 the Texans were coming off a 4-12 season where their star rookie quarterback, Deshaun Watson, was rehabbing from a torn ACL in practice, and their face of the franchise, J.J. Watt, was rehabbing from his second season-ending injury. Why would you give that team three primetime games?
It isn’t like Houston hasn’t delivered in primetime. Since 2018, the Texans have compiled an 8-1 record in nationally televised games. It isn’t like putting some other AFC South opponents in primetime. Watson and the Texans have delivered.
2. Is 0-4 a possibility?
Recall that Houston started 0-3 in 2018, and were a missed Ka’imi Fairbairn field goal away from starting 0-3-1 if things hadn’t gone their way in overtime in Week 4 in Indianapolis.
The Texans face the Chiefs, Ravens, Steelers, and Vikings in the first four weeks of the season. It’s an away-home switching off, but the Texans get three playoff teams right off the bat with two of the previous league MVPs in the first two weeks. 0-4 is a distinct possibility given the difficulty of the schedule at this juncture.
Also recall the Texans rebounded from an 0-3 hole to peel off a nine-game winning streak and save their season. There is a reason why “September’s contenders turn to December’s pretenders” is prevalent in pro football.
3. Season’s beatings
It could sound like sour grapes, but the Thanksgiving matchup with the Detroit Lions does Houston no favors.
The Turkey Day encounter is very dissimilar to a Thursday night game. First off, the Texans go on the road whereas they have been at home on Thursday night the past two seasons. Second off, and more importantly, the game is at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. That’s a half-day worth of recovery from the Sunday matchup with the New England Patriots the Texans will be missing out on.
Win or lose, the Texans are rewarded with 10 days off as the battle for the division intensifies in December.
4. Don’t be surprised by a flex-in
Flex scheduling in the NFL starts as early as Week 5. Therefore, a bevy of Texans games thereafter are eligible to get moved up to Sunday night.
As the season progresses and the Texans prove themselves to be a hot ticket, games such as the Cleveland bout in Week 10, the Chicago game in Week 14, the Indianapolis game in Week 15, the Bengals game in Week 16, and the finale with the Titans in Week 17 could be subject to going to NBC for “Sunday Night Football.” That would certainly help the Texans’ primetime numbers going from two to possibly three or more.
