2023 NFL schedule: Houston Texans play Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets in 22nd regular season

The Houston Texans’ complete 2023 schedule has been released. Get the details on the when and where for the Texans’ 22nd regular season.

The opponents were known long ago, but now the Houston Texans’ complete 2023 schedule has been unveiled. The Texans now know the when and where for their 17 games of their 22nd season in franchise history.

The first game of the DeMeco Ryans kicks off Week 1 at the Baltimore Ravens.

The Texans also get to take on a marquee franchise when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4 at NRG Stadium.

Houston also gets to be a part of the hoopla in the Big Apple when they take on Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets in Week 14.

Houston’s season finale will be against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. The date, time, and network for that finale will be announced the closer to the Week 18 finale.

Here is the complete schedule, including TV networks.

Houston Texans complete 2023 schedule: Times and dates announced

The Houston Texans’ complete 2023 schedule has been revealed. Check out the times and dates for all 17 games.

The Houston Texans’ complete 2023 schedule has been revealed.

The opponents were already known when the 2022 season ended, even while the Texans were on the plane ride back from Indianapolis following Week 18. However, the times and dates weren’t secured.

Houston now knows where and when they will play all 17 games for their 22nd season and the first of the DeMeco Ryans era.

All times are Central.

Week Date Opponent Time (CT) Network
1 Sept. 10 at Baltimore Ravens 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
2 Sept. 17 vs. Indianapolis Colts 12:00 p.m. FOX Tickets
3 Sept. 24 at Jacksonville Jaguars 12:00 p.m. FOX Tickets
4 Oct. 1 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
5 Oct. 8 at Atlanta Falcons 12:00 p.m. FOX Tickets
6 Oct. 15 vs. New Orleans Saints 12:00 p.m. FOX
7 Oct. 22 BYE WEEK Tickets
8 Oct. 29 at Carolina Panthers 12:00 p.m. FOX Tickets
9 Nov. 5 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
10 Nov. 12 at Cincinnati Bengals 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
11 Nov. 19 vs. Arizona Cardinals 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
12 Nov. 26 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
13 Dec. 3 vs. Denver Broncos 3:05 p.m. CBS Tickets
14 Dec. 10 at New York Jets 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
15 Dec. 17 at Tennessee Titans 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
16 Dec. 24 vs. Cleveland Browns 12:00 p.m. CBS Tickets
17 Dec. 31 vs. Tennessee Titans 12:00 p.m. FOX Tickets
18 Jan. 6 or 7 at Indianapolis Colts TBD TBD Tickets

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Why the NFL should give the Houston Texans prime time games in 2023

The NFL shouldn’t be too hesitant in 2023 when it comes to giving the Houston Texans a couple more prime time affairs.

With every team playing on Thursday Night Football, all 32 teams get to experience playing under the lights at least once a season.

Of course the David Culley Texans quarterbacked by Tyrod Taylor were going to have at least one prime time affair. Same goes for the Lovie Smith team led by Davis Mills.

However, no one wanted to give the Texans more exposure than that, and for good reason.

The NFL ought to reconsider their hesitancy about giving the Texans prime time games in 2023.

In 2021, the Texans had the cumulonimbus cloud of a disgruntled franchise quarterback mired in a sexual assault lawsuit hanging over their heads. Aside from their road trips to Arizona and San Francisco, Houston didn’t even make it out of the 12:00 p.m. Central start time.

In 2022, Houston may have been in the first year of a clean rebuild. They didn’t have the quarterback issues to deal with, but there was no star power at all on the roster. Only so many football fans know who Jalen Pitre was.

2023 is different. New coach DeMeco Ryans earned respect during the past two years as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, helping San Francisco qualify in the past two NFC Championship Games. Quarterback C.J. Stroud and defensive lineman Will Anderson also bring a certain cache to the team coming from big college programs such as Ohio State and Alabama.

The Texans also have a few opponents on their roster that would be worthy of storylines throughout the week.

How could the Texans playing the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium not be a prime time game when Stroud and Anthony Richardson were stellar on the same field during the NFL combine in March? That would be a natural for Thursday Night Football.

There is another fascinating rookie showdown between No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young and the quarterback who came after him, Stroud. Why not put Houston and the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football in late October when both rookies get their pro legs under them?

Another good Monday nighter would be the Texans and the defending AFC South champion Jacksonville Jaguars, and the quarterback matchup between Stroud and Trevor Lawrence would be a selling point.

Nothing will make Houston’s case more that they need to be in prime time than stacking wins. Then, the league could always flex them in Sunday Night Football later in the year.

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Why the NFL may avoid scheduling the Texans for Christmas Day games

The NFL is looking to schedule three Christmas Day games in 2023. Don’t expect the Houston Texans to be involved.

The NFL is looking to schedule a Christmas Day tripleheader for the second straight season.

According to John Breech from CBS Sports, the league wants to replicate what it had last year with an early, mid-afternoon, and Sunday night game on Christmas Day. The schedule allowed for the opportunity as Sunday was on Dec. 25. The NFL has another opportunity to do it again given Dec. 25 is on Monday this year.

For the first time in NFL history, it looks like the league is planning to hold a Monday tripleheader with the unprecedented event expected to happen on Christmas Day. According to NBC Sports, the league is expected to schedule three games for Monday, Dec. 25 this year. 

Historically, when Christmas has fallen a Monday, the NFL has scheduled two games for the occasion like it did in both 2006 and 2017. However, the league will be bumping it up to three this year and that likely has to do with how successful Christmas games have been over the past few seasons.

Don’t expect the Houston Texans to be a part of that six-team holiday slate.

The Texans still aren’t inspiring confidence across the league that better days are ahead in Houston. While power rankings count for nothing in terms of actually deciding playoff spots or draft positioning, they are a decent measure of how the rest of the sports world views a team. The perception of the Texans is they are still mired in a rebuild, albeit with one of the best assistant coaches leading the way in DeMeco Ryans. Adding C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson is helpful, but the two don’t have the star power to command prime time.

The NFL also got burned the last time they scheduled Houston on Christmas Day. In 2017, the Pittsburgh Steelers demolished Houston 34-6 at NRG Stadium. Save for one spectacular DeAndre Hopkins touchdown catch, the Steelers had their way the entire afternoon.

The advantage for Houston in skipping Christmas Day is they can maintain their regular work week with two games to go, which would be an added benefit should Houston be in contention for anything.

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Report: Houston Texans 2023 schedule could be released May 11

The NFL is looking at May 11 for the release day for the 2023 schedule. Should the Houston Texans play the Carolina Panthers in Week 1?

The Houston Texans know they will find out in May when their 2023 schedule will be finalized. What has been a big question mark has been what day the NFL will decide to release the entire slate for all 32 teams.

According to Adam Schefter from ESPN, the NFL is looking at May 11 as the date to release the schedule.

“Roger Goodell and scheduling czar Howard Katz will meet Monday as they continue attempts to finalize it,” Schefter tweeted. “But with Aaron Rodgers traded and Lamar Jackson signed, the coast is clear to move ahead and lock it in.

The Texans face the NFC South, AFC North, along with their standard bouts within the AFC South. Houston’s same place finisher games include the New York Jets, Denver Broncos, and Arizona Cardinals.

The league has a real opportunity on Opening Day to pit No. 1 overall quarterback Bryce Young against No. 2 overall quarterback C.J. Stroud as the Texans visit the Carolina Panthers this season. The last time the NFL had quarterbacks taken Nos. 1-2 face each other on Opening Day was in 2015 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Jameis Winston faced Marcus Mariota of the Tennessee Titans.

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Laremy Tunsil is a big reason to be optimistic about 2023 Houston Texans

Houston Texans fans have reasons to be optimistic about the team in 2023, and one of them is Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil.

The Houston Texans gave their fans 13.5 reasons to feel terrible about their team in 2022.

After coming off a 4-13 campaign led by a rookie coach in David Culley, the expectations were Houston could fare better with Lovie Smith at the helm. Instead the Texans regressed with a 3-13-1 record, a half-game worse than they were under a man who had never been so much as a coordinator in his previous 27 seasons in the NFL.

The Texans are on their third coaching search in as many seasons with general manager Nick Caserio. The trepidation for Texans fans is they are still amid a rebuild — a la the Jacksonville Jaguars, who never sniffed the playoffs from 2018-21, and almost missed out this season with a 3-7 start.

According to Jonathan Macri from Pro Football Focus, there is a big reason to be optimistic about the Texans’ fortunes in 2023, and it doesn’t have much to do with Houston’s draft capital. Rather it is the play from three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil.

Tunsil earned the highest pass-blocking grade on the season (91.7), allowing just one sack and three QB hits on 676 pass-blocking snaps. This has been the 28-year-old’s best career season, and he remains under contract through 2023.

The Texans and Tunsil will likely work on an extension in the offseason, and the former Miami Dolphins 2016 first-round pick would relish in being the highest-paid tackle along with the qualitatively and quantitatively best.

Having a blindside protector in his prime would also be a great way for Houston’s rookie quarterback — whether Alabama’s Bryce Young or Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud — to acclimate to the NFL. The young signal caller would have a better chance making good decisions in a settled throwing environment rather than dealing with a constant rush off the left side.

Tunsil started all 17 games for Houston in 2022, the first year of his career he completed a full complement of games in a season.

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Houston Texans 2023 opponents revealed: Visit the Bengals, host the Buccaneers

With the 2022 NFL season in the books, the Houston Texans’ opponents for the 2023 have been revealed.

The Houston Texans have finished the season 3-13-1 and can look forward to the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

Texans fans can also look forward to the following opponents when the 2023 season kicks off.

Houston won’t know the date and times for their opponents until much later in the offseason. However, thanks to the NFL’s scheduling formula implemented in 2002 and tinkered with in 2021 after the introduction of a 17th game, the opponents are already known upon the completion of a season.

The Texans are slated to play the NFC South every four years, the complete AFC North every three years. Their AFC West, AFC East, and NFC West opponents are determined by their respective placements in their division. With Houston finishing last in the AFC South, they get the last place teams in the AFC West, AFC East, and NFC West.