Rolling blackouts in the Nashville area forced kickoff between the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans to endure a weather delay on Christmas Eve.
The 12:00 p.m. Central Time kickoff was postponed an hour with the decision being made 90 minutes before scheduled kickoff. The decision meant that the Texans and Titans would not square off for another two and a half hours.
Coach Lovie Smith can account for about 20 of those extra minutes.
“I think I might have taken a nap for about 20 of those minutes,” Smith said.
The sugarplums in Smith’s head of beating the Titans came to life as Houston snapped its nine-game losing streak with a 19-14 win over Tennessee.
Smith told the players to use the extra time to mentally prepare themselves to take on the Titans.
Said Smith: “That’s pretty much what the guys you know — ‘Hey, guys, we’ve got an extra hour. We’ll get back on our routine an hour from now.’ Right now, you’ve got a little bit more time to mentally get prepared to play.”
There were initially talks of postponing the game to another day, but a one-hour weather delay ahead of kickoff was sufficient.
“So, ‘Hey, guys, we’re not postponing the game. The game is going on, so get ready to go,'” Smith said. “That’s what they did.”
The Texans forced rookie quarterback Malik Willis to throw two interceptions and forced a fumble of running back Derrick Henry. The Texans have now won three of their last four contests at Nissan Stadium and are currently on a two-game winning streak in that venue.