Tag: 2023 Houston Texans schedule

What constitutes success for the 2023 Houston Texans?

The Houston Texans have struggled to win more than four games the past three seasons. How should success be counted in 2023?

The Houston Texans have been terrible for the entire decade to this point.

Regardless of whether Houston had a franchise caliber quarterback or not, the club has struggled to win more than four games. The nadir was last season when the Texans posted a 3-13-1, and one of their paltry wins was in Week 18 to ensure they lost the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft.

With the Texans using their Nos. 2-3 overall picks to take quarterback C.J. Stroud and defensive end Will Anderson, the expectation is Houston will have pillars on both sides of the ball to bring back competitive football on Kirby Drive.

In the meantime, what does success look like for Houston in new coach DeMeco Ryans’ first season?

According to Josh Liskiewitz from Pro Football Focus, the Texans’ success in 2023 should be measured by how quickly the draft class is able to acclimate to the NFL along with the progression of offense coordinator Bobby Slowik’s scheme.

Looking big picture, the 2023 season for the Houston Texans is about developing the young talent on the roster. Will Stroud’s accuracy he showed at Ohio State translate quickly to the NFL level? Can Collins, Metchie and 2023 third-round pick Tank Dell form a viable corps of young weapons on offense? Can the youth on defense elevate their play and form a strong foundation for the future?

Success for the 2023 season should be measured more on the advancement of this young group of core players than by actual wins and losses.

What may help Texans fans stomach further losses is a changing composition. In 2022, Houston lost seven games by two scores or more and had a 3-6-1 record in one-score games. A quick turnaround would be welcomed, but the reality is there may still be work to do for Houston to complete the rebuild.

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Houston Texans 2023 resale ticket prices see increase

Houston Texans resale ticket prices have been on the rise since last season.

Houston Texans resale ticket prices are on the rise in 2023.

According to Nick Schwartz from the Touchdown Wire, using data from TicketSmarter, the average price to see a Texans game went from $159 in 2022 to $216 in 2023.

While the prices may be on the rise, the Texans still are among the bottom in resale ticket prices. Only the Atlanta Falcons have lower prices at $196.

Across the rest of the AFC South, the defending division champion Jacksonville Jaguars are at $242, up from $126 a season ago. The Tennessee Titans are just ahead of them at $247, up from $218. The Indianapolis Colts are next at $253, up from $200.

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Houston Texans to host Season Premiere Aug. 31

The Houston Texans will host their annual Season Premiere Aug. 31 at NRG Stadium.

The Houston Texans announced the date of their second annual Season Premiere presented by Amegy Bank.

The Texans will host the Season Premiere Thursday, Aug. 31 at NRG Stadium.

All proceeds from the event will go towards the Houston Texans Foundation. The event chairs this year include Texans Foundation vice president Hannah McNair and Lady Texans Kathleen Caserio and Jamie Grissom.

“The Season Premiere will be a wonderful way for us to celebrate a new season with our team,” Texans co-founder Janice McNair said. “No one is more excited for this season of Texans football than I am, and I can’t wait to see the team on the field this fall.”

Hannah McNair says attendees will be treated to, “a delicious meal, live music and games.”

“Giving back to our great city is at the heart of who we are as an organization and funds raised at this special evening will help us amplify our efforts to make a meaningful impact across our community year-round,” Hannah McNair said.

Berg Hospitality will provide the dinner, and the night will include games and live music in the Texans Casino along with live and silent auctions.

Attendees will get to see the 2023 team for the first time, including chairman and CEO Cal McNair, president Greg Grissom, general manager Nick Caserio, coach DeMeco Ryans, TORO, Texans Legends, Texans Cheerleaders, and Lady Texans.

The 2022 Season Premiere raised over $800,000 to support the Texans’ efforts to inspire hope in the greater Houston area. Since 2002, the Texans Foundation has raised more than $45.3 million to support programs in education, character development, and health and wellness to empower the next generation.

More information can be found at www.HoustonTexans.com/SeasonPremiere.

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Texans would need Jaguars to fail miserably to recapture AFC South

The Houston Texans will need a total collapse from the Jacksonville Jaguars if they are to have a shot at winning the AFC South.

If the Houston Texans are to win the AFC South, it is simple: dethrone the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Sweeping the Jaguars is the most straightforward way to do so. However, stacking a series sweep would count just two games against Jacksonville’s record. If they finish 10-7, so what are a couple of games to the Texans, who still need to carry their own water?

According to Will Brinson from CBS Sports, the Jaguars are a team to watch in 2023 for possibly falling out of playoff contention.

The AFC South is almost certainly a one-bid division with how the conference stacks out this season and all three of the other teams have pathways to upsetting a Jacksonville team without, ahem, a lengthy history of success. Indy, Houston and Tennessee all have rookie quarterbacks, making them substantial wild cards. Left tackle Cam Robinson is facing a suspension … but the length somehow still isn’t known? Reports peg it between two and six games. Given the timing of the report and the use of a first-round pick on tackle Anton Harrison, it feels safe to assume the suspension could end up being on the higher side. Expectations are sky high for Jacksonville and it’s not unreasonable they don’t meet them.

The Jaguars would have to start playing inconsistently as they did in the early part of last season when they had a 3-7 record going into their bye week. It won’t just take beatings within the division to oust the Jaguars.

Commensurate with a total failure from Jacksonville, the Texans would have to measure up. Even if Houston went 6-0 in the division yet faltered elsewhere, they would barely be in contention should the Indianapolis Colts or Tennessee Titans hover anywhere near .500.

The last time the Jaguars won the division was 2017, and then the Texans wrested control of the AFC South for the next two years thereafter. Clutch City sports fans are hopeful history rhymes.

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Texans will have 10th-shortest travel miles in 2023

The Houston Texans will travel 15,248 miles in 2023, the 10th-shortest total miles traveled in the NFL.

The Houston Texans have another advantage on their 2023 schedule.

Already ranked No. 30 in the NFL in terms of strength of schedule, the Texans are also 10th in the NFL in terms of shortest distance traveled.

According to Bookies.com, the Texans will travel 15,248 miles, which is the 10th-lowest in the NFL. Among the AFC South, Houston’s mileage is the lowest in the division. The Indianapolis Colts aren’t too far behind at No. 11 with 16,403, the Jacksonville Jaguars No. 13 with 16,854, and the Tennessee Titans No. 14 with 17,022.

The Cincinnati Bengals have the fewest miles traveled with 11,942, which is the result of being in a tightly-knit AFC North. The Seattle Seahawks, situated in the Pacific Northwest, have the most travel miles with 31,600.

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Texans’ 2023 schedule presents opportunity for turnaround

The Houston Texans’ 2023 schedule is laid out to where the team should be able to take advantage and kickstart a turnaround.

The Houston Texans have the 30th-hardest schedule in the NFL according to the conventional strength of schedule metric. However, there is another perspective that shows just how favorable the Texans’ schedule is in 2023.

According to Gordon McGuinness from Pro Football Focus, the AFC South is the seventh-toughest division in the NFL. That sounds convincing until one realizes the league is comprised of eight divisions. Part of the reason the AFC South is near the bottom is due to the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans being in rebuild mode like the Texans.

The other South teams appear to be looking more to the future, with three quarterbacks selected in the top 33 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft in C.J. Stroud for the Houston Texans, Anthony Richardson for the Indianapolis Colts and Will Levis for the Tennessee Titans. Of those three, the Titans will feel the closest to contending for a playoff spot in 2023. But the reality for all three teams is that a successful season would be learning what they have in their young signal-callers.

The Texans could have a successful season by McGuinness’ terms of evaluating Stroud, but also a successful season in the standings.

In addition to the AFC South, the Texans also play the NFC South this season, and that division was ranked worse than Houston’s division. While the Texans are facing what is considered the toughest division in football in the AFC North, that is counterbalanced by being last in the AFC South, and thus Houston has three same place finisher games with teams that came in last in the NFC West (Arizona Cardinals), AFC East (New York Jets), and AFC West (Denver Broncos).

Whether due to strength of schedule or public perception, the Texans couldn’t have asked for a better schedule to kickstart a turnaround.

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Texans’ season could be defined by a 5-game stretch

The Houston Texans’ first season with DeMeco Ryans may be defined by a particular five-game stretch late in the year.

Even though fans and media have an idea of what new coach DeMeco Ryans brings, there is a bit of mystery as to what the 2023 Houston Texans will look like.

Between an aggressive defensive scheme and a rookie quarterback, there is an expectation for growing pains yet triumphs. How long the fluctuation lasts until stability forms will be the question throughout the season.

There is a five-game stretch on the Texans’ schedule that could define their season.

Weeks 12-16 offer the best insight as to who the Texans actually are under Ryans. Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells said you know what type of team you have by Thanksgiving, which is Week 12 in 2023.

Here is the five-game stretch that could tell the tale of the Texans.

Pro Football Focus projects Texans’ 2023 schedule as sixth-easiest

The Houston Texans have the sixth-easiest strength of schedule according to Pro Football Focus.

The Houston Texans have an easy strength of schedule using conventional methods to determine the value. However, more advanced metrics give a better insight as to how less strenuous Houston’s path will be in 2023.

According to Amelia Probst from Pro Football Focus, who used PFF’s ELO to look at each team’s record from a year ago, respective opponents’ records, home and away games along with roster changes and injuries, the Texans remained in the top-10 among easiest schedules.

Conventional methods have the Texans with the third-easiest schedule. PFF has the Texans with the sixth-easiest schedule in the league.

Playing the conference runner-up is never an easy task, but besides that contest — which comes in Week 10 — the schedule should give Houston the opportunity to improve on their standing last year.

The easiest game for Houston comes in Week 15 against the Tennessee Titans. The hardest game is Week 10 with the Cincinnati Bengals. Both games will be on the road.

Houston was also given a projected win total of 5.8. Even rounding up, it means the Texans would endure another double-digit loss campaign with a 6-11 record. However, the composition of such a record could still engender optimism about the direction of the franchise. If Houston were simply not closing the deal in the clutch and losing one-score games, it would have a different feel than if the Texans were getting blown out every week.

Across the rest of the AFC South, the Indianapolis Colts have the third-easiest schedule and the Titans fall immediately in line at No. 4. The reigning division champion Jacksonville Jaguars have the 13th-easiest schedule, ranking second-easiest among division winners.

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Why the Texans being pigeonholed in early game window is a benefit

The Houston Texans may have had a blessing in disguise by not having any prime time games in 2023.

The Houston Texans don’t have any prime time games on the 2023 schedule.

For the first time since 2006, and the third time in franchise history, the Texans will not be playing a game with a kickoff time after 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

In fact, all but one of the Texans’ 16 games has a kickoff time other than 1:00 p.m. Eastern. Other than the TV network being either CBS or FOX, Houston sports fans will have the most predictable NFL Sundays this fall.

Former St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz told the 33rd Team he used to dread looking at the schedule because of the short weeks due to prime time games, particularly Monday Night Football. By the time Martz was an offensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears from 2010-11, Thursday Night Football was becoming more prevalent.

The other thing I never liked to see was traveling on a short week. Those are the things that would really bother me. You’d play a game on Sunday and then have to play a Thursday night game across the country, that’s hard on everybody.

With the NFL not giving all 32 teams a Thursday night game this season, it gives the Texans a chance to build a steady workflow throughout the week.

New coach DeMeco Ryans wouldn’t take the cheese and say the team was using it as extra motivation.

“For me, it’s not about showing the NFL anything,” Ryans said at rookie minicamp May 12. “It’s about us as a team just going out, working, and when you humble yourself and you work, you put your head down and work, you’re deserving of those things, then they’ll come to you. So that’s what it does for me, the internal motivation as opposed to external.”

As a coach, Ryans has to appreciate the fact the team won’t be balancing hectic travel schedules as they play in an assortment of prime time affairs. There are no short weeks or long layoffs. Ryans’ team simply just has to show up on Sundays.

While the Texans may not have been scheduled any prime time affairs, it is still possible for them to play in such contests. After Week 11, the NFL will flex more compelling games into Sunday Night Football. If the Texans are looking like a playoff team, and their opponent is equally as interesting, don’t be surprised if Houston gets at least one prime time game.

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DeMeco Ryans says Texans must ‘go out and earn’ prime time games

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans believes his team must earn their way into being scheduled for prime time games.

The Houston Texans didn’t get a single prime time game on their 2023 slate.

For the first time since 2006, the Texans did not have one game placed in prime time. The only other time in Texans history they did not have a prime time game was in 2003.

For new coach DeMeco Ryans, the lack of prime time games is not a problem for his team.

“You know, with that schedule, right, not having any prime time games, you know, that’s the one thing that we kind of look forward to,” Ryans said after rookie minicamp Friday. “One thing that I’ve learned is I’ve just looked at it as for us as a team, we have to go out and earn, earn our right to be in those prime time moments.”

The only reason the Texans had prime time games the past two seasons — as moribund as the franchise was — was due to the NFL’s insistence on giving every team a Thursday Night Football game. Otherwise the Texans would have been blanked in prime time starting in 2021.

Ryans is confident he can use the lack of prime time games as motivation for the team to elevate their level of play.

“It was a good opportunity for our team to just go out, put our head down, and work and just prove where we belong,” said Ryans. “Excited about it.”

With flex scheduling, wherein the NFL flexes a better game into Sunday Night Football starting in Week 11, should the Texans start to look like a viable playoff contender, they could end up playing in a prime time game or two. Any flex into Sunday Night Football would be the Texans’ first appearance since Dec. 1, 2019, when they beat the New England Patriots 28-22 at NRG Stadium.

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