If it feels like we’ve been covering the Houston Texans’ 2024 schedule reveal super extensively, it’s because we have. We previewed the schedule reveal with multiple articles, and continue too recap the schedule with further analysis (including some more below).
The reason why we’ve discussed the schedule so much is simple — this season’s schedule is symbolic of the Texans’ return to relevance. The Texans have six games where they have the stage to themselves, including four prime time games. Five of those “national stage” games occur in the final nine games of the season. The Texans play on Christmas Day. These are all difficult, but fun, challenges.
That said, there are still a few unanswered questions regarding the 2024 slate, and we may not get answers until deep into the season. The questions are:
What could change from a date and time standpoint on some of these games?
That all depends on how well the Texans are doing as the season rolls along and how inclined the powers that be choose to invoke flex scheduling rules that allow them to switch to spicier prime time matchups. Here are the flex scheduling rules, courtesy of the Texans’ press release with their schedule:
This season, “flexible scheduling” for Sunday Night Football may be used up to twice between Weeks 5-10, and in the NFL’s discretion during Weeks 11-17; for Monday Night Football in the NFL’s discretion in Weeks 12-17; and for Thursday Night Football it may be used up to twice between Weeks 13-17. During these Flex Scheduling Windows, the games initially scheduled for Sunday Night Football (on NBC), Monday Night Football (on ESPN or ABC), and Thursday Night Football (on Amazon Prime Video) are tentatively scheduled and subject to change. Only Sunday afternoon games (or those listed as TBD) are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, Monday night, or Thursday night, in which case the initially scheduled Sunday/Monday night game would be moved to Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon games may also be moved between 1:00 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. ET. As in prior seasons, for Week 18, the final weekend of the season, the scheduling of the Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and the Sunday night games is not assigned. In Week 18, two games will be played on Saturday (4:30 PM ET and 8:15 PM ET) with the remainder to be played on Sunday afternoon (1:00 PM ET and 4:25 PM ET) and one matchup to be played on Sunday night (8:20 PM ET). Specific dates, start times, and networks for Week 18 matchups will be determined and announced following the conclusion of Week 17.
It’s doubtful we will see the Texans flexed, largely because they’re already playing in prime spots for a majority of the seasons second half. One other thing to keep in mind — the Texans’ Week 18 date and time has not yet been determined. Last season in Week 18, they wound up playing on ESPN on Saturday night against the Colts with a playoff spot on the line.
Who will produce and provide commentary for the Christmas Day game on Netflix?
Netflix literally burst onto the NFL broadcast partner scene with this schedule release, as the league essentially put the two Christmas Day games up for auction, and Netflix wound up saying “YES” to a price tag of $75 million for each of the two holiday games, one of which is the Ravens visit to NRG Stadium to face the Texans. Netflix is fairly new to live programming at all, let alone NFL football games, so my guess is they will farm out the production of the game (i.e. equipment, cameras, satellite, etc.) to one of the other NFL broadcast partners, likely the NFL Network itself. The announce team for the Ravens-Texans game is to be determined, as well. That game could have major ramifications on the playoff race, so breaking in a new announce team in that environment could have a strange feel. Just keep Tony Romo away from the broadcast, that’s all I ask.
How do we think J.J. Watt views this Texans schedule?
I’ll preface this paragraph by saying that I think the odds of Watt returning to active football are still very, very slim. However, he certainly has not closed the door on it, and until he does, I’ll entertain it as a possibility. So, if it is indeed possible that Watt comes back as a Texan, he had to at least take a cursory glance at the schedule. If Watt were to come back, it would likely be in the second half of the season, so let’s say he returns in Week 11, for the Monday night game in Dallas, which feels like the type of stage on which Watt really enjoys finding himself. That would give him three games, and then the Texans bye week in Week 14. Indeed, the late bye week might make this schedule slightly more enticing for Watt, who knows? The main thing for Watt is that the Texans are relevant heading into the back end of the season. He wants to compete for a Super Bowl.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
