Thursday night games are tough, especially for teams that are struggling like the Houston Texans have this season. It takes a significant amount of preparation to put together a cohesive game plan, and with less time to get ready after a game on Sunday, teams are often up against the gun to make the best possible adjustments for the primetime matchup.
Houston is in a particularly tough position this week facing the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, and are heavy underdogs heading into Thursday’s game. Tight end O.J. Howard commented on the challenge of preparing for the matchup at the Texans’ Monday press conference, telling the media that the abridged practice schedule will be hard to overcome.
“They’re tough because of the quick turnaround,” Howard said to a reporter who asked about the difficulty of Thursday night games. “If you go out there and play a physical game like our defense yesterday, the running back has 32 carries. They’re out there banging for I don’t know how many plays they played, but that’s a lot. Obviously, we had to go out there and run the ball and be physical. Then like you said it’s a quick turnaround. It [Thursday Night Football] probably won’t change. It’s definitely tough for us players, but it’s what we’ve got to deal with right now. It definitely can be really tough.”
Though the outcome of this game is already decided in the eyes of many fans and media members who are aware of the vastly different situations that the Texans and Eagles are in, Philadelphia is in the same position as Houston regarding their amended schedule for preparation this week. The Texans will be a long shot to win no matter what given their status as the AFC’s worst team by record, but in a league where anything can happen on a given week, they might be able to leverage the lack of practice time to their advantage.