When the Houston Texans schedule moves away from AFC South contests, which games are going to be must-watch for 2020?
The 2020 Houston Texans schedule release day has arrived, and that means we’ll all know when the Texans will be facing their opponents for the 2020 season as the franchise looks to reach the AFC Playoffs for a third consecutive season.
This year the Texans schedule consists of six games in the AFC South, while facing all four teams from the AFC North and the NFC North. The Texans schedule also has them taking on the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs from the AFC West and last year’s AFC East champion, the New England Patriots.
Now breaking down those games and finding the Top 5 opponents and games that aren’t from the AFC South is a bit tricky. There are some high-quality opponents on the Texans schedule for the upcoming season, and one game that is usually on the must-watch list, but not for this first installment at least, is their game against the New England Patriots.
The game against the Patriots is usually one of the most anticipated games on the Texans schedule, but this year the game doesn’t include Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski, so the spark this game usually brings doesn’t have the same excitement, at least in May.
Houston does have some fun matchups awaiting them in 2020 including the battle of former Bill Belichick coordinators with Bill O’Brien‘s Texans facing the Detroit Lions who are coached by Matt Patricia. There is also the game against the Chicago Bears, the team that passed on Deshaun Watson in the 2017 NFL Draft.
All games on the 2020 Texans schedule mean a lot in the final standings, but next are five games that qualify for being must-watch.
5. Texans Schedule: Facing the No. 1 overall pick by hosting Cincinnati
When this game is played it might not be the best game on the NFL schedule that week, but when the Texans schedule arrives to face the Cincinnati Bengals, Houston will get to see the No. 1 overall draft pick from the 2020 NFL Draft Joe Burrow live and in person.
If there is one team who knows what it is like to start a quarterback as a rookie, who was the No. 1 overall pick, that is the Texans (see David Carr). The Texans also know about starting a quarterback who won a national championship, and was a high first round pick, as that is current quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is entering his fourth NFL season.
This game will most likely feature the Bengals having some solid players on their offense like A.J. Green and rookie wide receiver Tee Higgins. Don’t forget this will be a reunion game for the Texans and D.J. Reader who joined Cincinnati in free agency this offseason, becoming the highest-paid nose tackle in the league.
Whenever the Texans host the Bengals it will be a fun game to watch with a few storylines to watch along the way.
4. Texans Schedule: Hosting the legendary Green Bay Packers
If the Houston Texans schedule shows anything this upcoming season it is the following … nothing is going to come easy, and they are going to have a few “prove-it” type of battles in 2020. One of those games is the Texans facing the Green Bay Packers in Houston at NRG Stadium.
The Texans need to play well in these type of games against tough teams. Though the Packers might have some strange draft philosophies, they still have Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback. Rodgers is still a top-notch quarterback in the league, and even though his own team drafted quarterback Jordan Love in the first round (and not a wide receiver) this past draft, it is going to take a lot of work to unseat Rodgers this season at least.
When Green Bay visits the Texans what will be the best part of this game is seeing J.J. Watt and the rest of the Texans defense battle against a Packers offense. Though lacking a top wide receiver Green Bay usually finds a way to be competitive if No. 12 is on the field for them.
This game will be a nice test for the Texans as it could be within the first month of the season, and if the Texans schedule rumors are true, this potential early meeting between the two teams can gauge where each stands early on in 2020.
3. Texans Schedule: All 3 Watt brothers will battle when Pittsburgh visits Houston
Can we just call this game on the Texans schedule against the Pittsburgh Steelers the Watt Bowl? If everyone stays healthy, and all three players are still with their respective teams, when this game takes place J.J. Watt, T.J. Watt and Derek Watt will be on the same field in 2020.
J.J. Watt with the Texans will get the opportunity to play opposite of his two brothers in the same game for the first time. J.J. Watt has faced Derek Watt before when the latter Watt was a member of the Los Angeles Chargers last season.
When one sees all three of the Watt brothers together it is entertaining as they have been known to provide humor on Twitter. The three brothers are also hostinga new game show titled “Ultimate Tag” later this month on FOX, so that is sure to be exciting too.
Also with the Texans vs. Steelers game, the Texans schedule has them not only facing Ben Roethlisberger, but the Steelers also have JuJu Smith Schuster on their roster. He’s become one of the very best wide receivers in the league, and will most likely cause issues for the Texans secondary, but also be a welcome challenge.
Again, as all games are important, this AFC matchup with the Steelers could provide entertaining other than the final score with all the Watt brothers battling for a win.
2. Texans Schedule: Bring on Lamar Jackson and the Ravens
The most embarrassing loss in the regular season in 2019 came when the Texans were dominated by the Baltimore Ravens in a 41-7 loss, a game where they Texans had no fight in them and it showed.
The first quarter was fine for the Texans as they were tied at zero with Baltimore. Next showed why the Ravens were a dominate team last season when they outscored the Texans 14-0 in the second, 13-0 in the third, and then for good measure Baltimore added 14 more points in the fourth quarter, while the Texans scored their lone touchdown of the game.
This was the game where Lamar Jackson proved he was going to be the NFL MVP, finishing 17-of-24 for 222 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Texans have a lot to prove in the 2020 meeting because of the fact how the feeling was after the game last season. The Texans need to start winning these type of games against the very best teams in the regular season if they want to be a true contender when the playoffs arrive.
1. Texans Schedule: Time to face the Super Bowl champion Chiefs … again
During last year’s regular season game between the Texans and the Chiefs, Houston won a “must-win” type of game where they needed to prove themselves against a strong opponent.
That said, even if the Texans did gain a regular season win against a recovering Patrick Mahomes, the playoffs — in the AFC Divisional Round — was a different story altogether.
Yes, that is the dreaded game where the Texans lead of 24-0 was erased by the Chiefs in the second quarter, seeing Kansas City win by 51-31 score, and they eventually went on to win the Super Bowl.
Though it felt like the Texans were close to defeating the Chiefs in the playoffs, they really weren’t even in the same ballpark, and that has to be on the mind of the team when this rematch happens in 2020.
The Texans schedule for this game could see this being a possible Monday Night Football or even Sunday Night Football game because of what happened last season, and the fact the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. Plus, two of the very best quarterbacks in the league are on the respective rosters with this being another Deshaun Watson vs. Mahomes showdown.
In the playoff loss, Watson finished 31-of-52 for 385 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Mahomes was 23-of-35 for 321 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Watson even rushed for 44 yards on 13 carries, but he was bested by Mahomes in that category with seven carries for 53 yards.
This game deserves a primetime spot, and even if it doesn’t, when it is Watson vs. Mahomes you are guaranteed top-notch quarterback play from each player, making it a must-watch game.