Ya'll can have the draft; my favorite offseason pursuit is scouting the schedule! Heading into last year, the Texans were everyone's favorite team, and their schedule reflected it with SIX showcase games: SNF (NBC) - 3 (including Saturday afternoon game) MNF (ESPN) - 1 TNF (Amazon) - 1 Christmas Day (Netflix) - 1 Needless to say, they WILL NOT get six again (Commanders and Chargers will be this year's belle of the ball - Denver, too). Is the Thursday game still mandated for all teams? Even if it's not, they'll 100% have a Thursday night game. My predictions: NBC: 1 game; @ LA Rams For whatever reason, whenever the Texans appear on SNF, NBC likes to pit them against a high-profile NFC team - they've appeared on NBC 12 times (regular season only), and they've played the NFC six times. In fact, their only AFC opponents have been the Chiefs (2), Colts (2) and Patriots (2). Weird. MNF: my prediction: 2 games; v Denver; @ Chargers TNF: my prediction: 1 game; v AFC South team (I'd put money on Jacksonville) And then I think - though I don't feel strongly - at least one of their games v KC, Buffalo or Baltimore could get some kind of showcase - maybe a late season Saturday? But maybe not as CBS may have hopes those games could be viable late-afternoon national games, and they block them from the primetime line-up. It's not a terribly compelling schedule, honestly - esp if the AFC South is bad.
Buffalo, KC, and Baltimore games will be main game on, whenever they play(either prime time, showcase Sunday afternoon, or largest coverage at noon). Rams game is best bet to be another prime time game. Denver and/or LAC I could see on Thursday or Monday. Prob 3 stand alone prime time games, and a further 3 showcase games IMO
I was shocked the Bills game last year was a noon game. KC is possible - but the Ravens have blown the Texans' doors the past two meetings: I don't think it'll be a showcase game. The league isn't going to forget - or forgive - 31-2 easily.
If the Texans can't compete when the lights are brightest and all eyes are on them, what potential do they really have? They are a small time team then. In the playoffs you must be used to playing under pressure with expectations.
Other than time zone differences, I never understood why people hated national tv games. I love it when my team is in the spotlight.
I'm with ya there. I hate late games, unless it's Thursday night. I'm ready for the game to start by 6 AM on Sundays, and I hate waiting until Sun or Monday night.
Well... I got the # and distribution exactly right: 4. But completely whiffed on the opponents. Four is a good number as it means the Texans are still highly-thought of among league circles. And the Chargers game is a designated flex game week 17. Three of those games (LAC/HTX; ARI/CIN; NYG/LVR; SEA/CAR; BAL/GB) will be part of a triple-header on Saturday. I'm going to guess Ravens-Packers is the prime time game with Texans-Chargers getting the late afternoon slot. So, that's a showcase game, for sure. And there's a chance Colts-Texans could be the SNF or MNF game, depending on playoff implications. There is a chance the Broncos-Texans game week 9 is flexed. We'll see. Right now, it's Seattle-Washington.
Still no 4:30 EST (3:30 CST) national games of the week…. Only one in franchise existence… clearly when teams are “elite” as there aren’t any token games for those slots (whereas almost every playoff team is guaranteed a SNF and a MNF game…. And nearly every team period gets a TNF game). (by comparison, the networks are ALL IN on Washington/Jayden Daniels… I was expecting that sort of slate for CJ last year). Should also be noted they’re getting the shitty MNF double header game in week 2… 6pm…. Which I guess is ‘prime time’… but is likely the NFL’s 4th or 5th best game for that weekend.
What's up with Monday night @ Seattle on ESPN+ of all things? That won't kick til 10PM EST. I'll be in bed before the popcorn is even warm, lmao. Not that I could even watch it since it's gonna be streaming on The Ocho.
(Also posted in schedule thread) Both MNF games are double-headers with the Texans likely getting the ESPN C team. The Texans, even with CJ, just aren’t a national draw. By comparison the Bengals, with Burrow, have the same number of Primetime games… plus a couple of 3:25 national games (the true marquee slot). Burrow/LSU still commands a following.
Burrow obviously has a marked lead on CJ in terms of both time and performance in the NFL, but it's hard to rationalize the Bengals as being a bigger draw than the Texans. And if we're we're pulling out the alumni eyeballs card, CJ has him beat with Ohio State IMO.
