We find out when the Texans play their games. Also, this is the last big event before the void of the NFL Calendar. Let’s discuss.
The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that, a review of the 2025 NFL Schedule Release:
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Getting the travel out of the way relatively early: Perhaps Cal made a deal with the NFL so that they could play most of the road slate early, giving him points for Christmas shopping on his credit cards? Of the Texans’ eight road games, four appear in the first six matchups of the season (Week 1 @LAR, Week 3 @JAX, Week 5 @BAL, Week 7@SEA). The bye during Week 6 makes this road stretch just a bit less daunting than the Week 13 @IND and Week 14 @KC matchups. Still, if Houston gets off to a slowish start to the season, all the early road matchups might play a factor.
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Home Cooking for the Fall/Winter: The early road tripping gets offset by the back-loading of home games to end the season. After the tilt in Seattle, Houston plays four of its next five games at NRG, included three consecutive home dates between Weeks 8-10 (49ers, Broncos, Jags). After the back-to-back road matchups, Houston finishes the season playing three of its final four games at home. However slow a start the team has to begin the season, the back stretch of the schedule sets up nicely for a pre-playoff run. Also, most of those late season games take place indoors, thus, another benefit for a team that generally plays in a warm weather/indoor venue.
Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images
Apparently the networks aren’t sick of the Texans. Last season, Houston garnered six primetime/stand-alone nationally televised games. They went 2-4 in those matchups, but of those, only the Houston beatdown of the Cowboys and the Christmas Day Massacre against Baltimore were decided by more than single digits, even if quality was debatable (the Bears and Jets matchups might have been close, but hardly representative of quality football). Despite a sophomore slump from Stroud and Houston’s inability to really beat the better teams, the league and its network partners felt that Houston deserved some primetime love. Four primetime games (1 x Thursday Night Game against Buffalo, 1 x Sunday Night Matchup @Kansas City, 2 x Monday Night Football Games (Tampa Bay, @Seattle). The SNF date is subject to change, but hard to see that happening barring a massive collapse by Houston. Given that the date and times for the final two games have yet to happen, perhaps another couple of nationally-televised matchups are in order?
Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images
What moves still remain? With the schedule out of the way and the mini-camps practically done, we enter into the dark void of the NFL calendar, or the stretch between now and the opening of training camps. Not that teams or players won’t make news (we still have the drama that no one really wants of “Where will Aaron Rodgers sign?”), but for all intents and purposes, the NFL recedes into the background. Yet, that does not mean an end to team actions. For Houston, have we seen the last of their roster moves? Not that too many big-ticket free agents remain, but the Texans still possess some gaps in their lineup, from quality IOL players, to LB and CB depth to uncertainty about the LS snapper position (yes, apparently Houston is learning that this is an actual thing). Would Houston sign any potential post-June 1st cuts this summer? Perhaps a mid-summer trade from out of nowhere? Not assured of happening, but the chance of Houston standing pat is not zero.
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FUN WITH NUMBERS:
$9.26M: Approximate Cap Space available for the 2025 Houston Texans: This doesn’t completely include all signees, but the squad does have a little wiggle room for an under-market signing or two. Perhaps Caserio gets another IOL, or, if nothing else, that cap space rolls over into next season, which given the pending extensions of Stroud and Anderson, the team may need all the money it can get.
3: Consecutive seasons that Houston stars the NFL season on the road: Every year that Stroud opens the season as a Texans’ starting QB, it has been in someone else’s house. His rookie year, he debuted at M&T Stadium in Baltimore. Last season, he started his sophomore season at the scene of his biggest regular season win as a rookie (Indianapolis). The team’s record so far: 1-1. Now, they get to open the year back near where Stroud grew up in Los Angeles, CA. Granted, the Rams do not make a great opener historically for Houston. The Texans lost their last LA trip facing the Rams in 2017 (33-7) and have yet to log a win against the Rams since their return to Los Angeles (0-2 against the LA Rams, 1-4 against the Rams franchise as a whole (1st three matchups were when the squad was in St. Louis).
There aren’t really any Game Balls or Awards of Idiocy to provide at this time, although the Colts could be a contender for dumbest schedule release on-line promo, only by having to delete it so quickly after release. Ah well.
Anyway, hope that this entry into the NFL dead zone finds all well, that maybe the diversions of the Astros or other pursuits go well, and see everyone in late July/Early August when training camps open.