First game of the year showcase is nothing to scoff at... basically a SNF game on steroids. 2nd game is a national game that gets far more ratings/attention than any MNF (and some SNF) games... in fact, those slots typically only go to select teams whereas every playoff team gets at least one SNF game. Titans and Rams have no national 3pm games this year. Usual boat-load for the Cowboys. Saints have the most in the league. Thanksgiving game is meh... while its a better showcase than the other NFLN thursday night games, would rather do without the short week. The long rest does help as a consolation, and they do play the Patriots the Sunday before at home which may not be a tough matchup.
The O/U is tied to the Hopkins’ trade. It amazes me that people think Hopkins was the only other player (besides Watson) on this team.
Not to mention that this offense was pretty limited with just Hopkins as the only decent consistent offensive threat. Granted, Johnson/Fuller/Cooks all have to stay healthy... but on paper, that offense has more options.
Ranking the 13 most interesting games on the NFL schedule 8. Week 14: Texans at Bears (Sunday, Dec. 13, 1 p.m. ET) I know what you’re thinking: Why the &^%* is this game on the list? Allow me to explain. This has the potential to be the saddest game of the season for the two fan bases involved. Bears fans will be bombarded by stories during the week about how Chicago traded up for Mitch Trubisky and passed on Deshaun Watson. Texans fans, meanwhile, despise their coach as much as any fan base in the NFL. Consider the possibilities. Maybe Nick Foles gets injured, Trubisky comes in, and he rallies the Bears to victory. During the postgame handshake, Matt Nagy convinces Bill O’Brien to trade Watson for Trubisky straight-up. O’Brien thinks about it for a moment and then offers to throw in a 2024 first-round pick. See? Now you know why this game deserves to be on the list. [Reiss] Texans schedule breakdown: How will Houston fare after tough opening stretch? The NFL churned along Thursday, when the league released team schedules for a season that might not happen on time, if at all. Little is certain right now, but assuming the Texans face a full slate of opponents, they’ll take on one of the league’s harder schedules, starting with a Thursday night road game against the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Here’s what you should know about the Texans’ 2020 schedule, along with my game-by-game predictions. A crucial stretch to start In 2018, the Texans became the second team ever to turn an 0-3 start into a division title. Will they have to try to repeat that accomplishment this season? It seems possible with this schedule. After playing the Chiefs on the road to open the season, the Texans will face Lamar Jackson and the Ravens at home in Week 2. Then comes a Week 3 trip to Pittsburgh, where the Texans will play a Steelers team that expects to have a fully healthy Ben Roethlisberger under center. You won’t find many season-opening stretches more difficult than this one. If there is an abbreviated training camp because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Texans will have little margin for error as they work themselves into game shape. Things could ease up in the middle of the season With a brutal opening stretch like the Texans’, the schedule has to soften up somewhere, right? That could be the case from Weeks 7-12. 7. Packers 8. Bye 9. @ Jaguars 10. @ Browns 11. Patriots Of these teams, only the Jaguars are certain to be bad this season. But drafting quarterback Jordan Love could make the Packers a dysfunctional mess by Week 7, and the Browns must prove they’re a contender before receiving that label yet again. Then there’s New England, which can never be counted out under Bill Belichick but doesn’t pose nearly the threat it once did. A 4-0 stretch here by the Texans could be necessary to make up ground following a poor start. Getting the full NFC North experience As AFC South teams face NFC North squads this year, the Texans will play in two of the opposing division’s classic settings: a Thanksgiving game at Detroit, and a very cold Week 14 matchup against the Bears in Chicago. The Texans have played the Lions on Thanksgiving once before, in 2012, when Houston won 34-31 in overtime to move to 10-1. This will be the two teams’ fifth regular season meeting. No Monday night game This season’s schedule doesn’t include a Monday night game for the Texans, who have appeared on Monday Night Football at least once since 2012. The Texans probably won’t miss participating. They’re 1-5 in Monday night games since 2016. Houston also doesn’t have a Sunday night game on its schedule. Schedule awards Can’t-miss game: This was a tough choice between the first two games. We’ve already seen a couple of entertaining Deshaun Watson-Patrick Mahomes matchups, but the epic Watson-Jackson duel many anticipated when the Texans traveled to Baltimore in Week 11 last season turned out to be a dud. So I’m looking forward to a potentially better Texans-Ravens game this season, one more like with the shootout Watson and Jackson participated in when they were in college. Game that’s gotten tougher based on what’s happened this offseason: In the game the Texans lost to the Colts last season, Indianapolis quarterback Jacoby Brissett exploded for 326 yards and four touchdowns on 26-of-39 passing. But Brissett, who later threw for just 129 yards in a Houston win, mostly struggled in his season as a starter, and the Colts replaced him with 38-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers. Coming off a 20-interception season, Rivers is nearing the end of his career, but considering the stout line he’ll play behind, it’s likely Indianapolis will have a more potent and consistent passing attack this season. That’s bad news for the Texans, who haven’t added any certain upgrades to a unit that ranked 26th in pass defense efficiency. Game that’s gotten easier based on what’s happened this offseason: Bill O’Brien beat the Patriots for the first time in five regular season tries during Week 13 last year, when the Texans topped New England 28-22 in Houston. If the Texans win a home game against the Patriots once again this season, it won’t represent quite the same accomplishment. Barring an unforeseen star turn for New England’s Jarrett Stidham, the Texans will undoubtedly enter their next game against the Patriots with the better quarterback. Record prediction @ Chiefs L Ravens L @ Steelers W Vikings L Jaguars W @ Titans W Packers W [Bye] @ Jaguars W @ Browns L Patriots L @ Lions W Colts W @ Bears W @ Colts L Bengals W Titans L 9-7 (Those are Reiss' predictions, not mine)
It’s part of it for sure, and why wouldn’t it be? This would be like ATL trading Julio and not expecting the line to move.
I get it, but the games in bold are winnable in comparison to KC (I do think there's reason to think Texans win the opener... I'll be putting money on the Spread/ML for sure just on the fact we won't see the Texans +10 barring any injuries the rest of the year). That's just me though. In a coin flip, give me Watson every time. I'll put my hard earned coin on him any day of the week and I kind of hope we aren't favored. Cooks and Cobb made this offense lethal... I'll throw in DJ too even though it's an unknown.
Fan bias and Vegas aren’t typically the ideal rational when talking about true favorites and underdogs. As of now, the Texans are just as big dogs for the Balt game. It would take Lamar Jackson going down for that to dramatically change. yeah that is you. You can choose to place your money on whatever you want. It’s gambling. Just like how I see value in playing under 7.5 wins
Before the schedule actually released, i had the texans winning no more than 9 games and that's with the best case/healthy scenario. I'm not expecting the usual guys to make it through the year (no reason for me to), so with the rough start of the schedule and then the injury bug making its way in that 9-7, taking those things into account among others, can easily go down to the 8-8/7-9 or even lower
i think we under estimate having a franchise QB u will be In games I can see them going 11-5 maybe 12-4 Baltimore was great last year but I don’t see them being as good as last regular season. Chiefs will be good however I think that 2 seed will be up for grabs which would be a first for the Texans so to me spilt week 1 and 2 and u get the Steelers who I’m not sure will be good with Big rape coming back from injury the Vikings and packers @ home it’s not that bad to me and I hated the nuk trade but they do have a slot upgrade and 2 guys that can get past defenders along with stills I like the O-line healthy it should be much better a year to gel so we will see
MNF is a third tier package. (Fourth if you acknowledge the TNF slate has surpassed them) The Texans have three games in top tier packages... on par with any division winner that lost in the 2nd round.
Last year I had the Texans somewhere between 3 and 11 wins based on the idea that it’s impossible to tell what kind of team they are. But that’s probably wrong. If anything O’Brien has proven he can have consistently successful regular seasons and there’s talent on this team. 9-7.
