The 2021 NFL Schedule has been released, and for the Houston Texans, looking at the current roster and how things stand at the quarterback position and elsewhere in mid-May, things won’t be easy for the team that resides at NRG Stadium.
Remember, there are 17 games in a 18-week schedule this season, and the Texans have one primetime game early in the season, that being on Thursday, Sept. 29 against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football.
The Houston Texans schedule release includes the AFC South showdown in Week 1, as the season opener will be the Texans hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are in the same situation as Houston with a rebuilding effort going on with their roster with a rookie quarterback named Trevor Lawrence, and Urban Meyer as their new head coach.
From there, Weeks 2-4 of the Houston Texans schedule include a Week 2 matchup at the Cleveland Browns, then in Week 3, the Texans will be facing the Carolina Panthers in a home game on TNF. Week 4 will see the Houston Texans face the Buffalo Bills in a tough road matchup in Buffalo against the AFC runner-up from a season ago.
Next, in Week 5, the Texans face the New England Patriots in a game at NRG Stadium, and in Week 6, Houston is scheduled to take on the the Indianapolis Colts in Indy in the first of their two AFC South matchups. The Colts swept the Texans in two games last season.
Houston Texans: 2021 schedule will show where team stands moving forward
The Week 7 game for the Texans will see them take on J.J. Watt, DeAndre Hopkins and the Arizona Cardinals in a game where two of the greatest Texans of all time will face Houston for the first time. Next on the 2021 schedule for the Houston Texans, they are scheduled to face the Los Angeles Rams at NRG Stadium in Week 8.
Laremy Tunsil will get to travel to face his old team with the Texans going on the road to South Beach in Week 9 to take on the Miami Dolphins, and Week 10 will finally be a much-needed bye week for the Texans.
If the first nine games of the season weren’t hard enough for the Texans, coming off the bye the Houston Texans’ schedule consists of the following games: at Tennessee Titans (Week 11), vs. New York Jets (Week 12), vs. Colts (Week 13), vs. Seattle Seahawks (Week 14), at Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 15), vs. Los Angeles Chargers (Week 16), at San Francisco 49ers (Week 17) and vs. Titans (Week 18).
No schedule in the NFL is easy, and there will be games where the Texans will struggle to compete with their current roster, especially if Deshaun Watson isn’t the starting quarterback. When he started last season and led the NFL in passing, the Texans still finished 4-12 overall.
That said, this can be a season for everyone to see exactly where the Houston Texans stand in their current rebuild and what they need to do become a better football team each and every week of the 2021 NFL season.