The Houston Texans will face off with the Baltimore Ravens during the 2024 season. This isn’t news, we’ve known that the two teams will have a 2024 rematch following their playoff showdown. What we didn't know was when that rematch would be happening. Now we do, apparently, as it’s being reported that the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens will be colliding on Christmas Day, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024.
This will likely serve as the 17th week of the NFL season and the 16th game of the season for the Texans. This will also mark the 15th time the two teams have clashed, the first time they’ve played one another on Christmas Day, and will be the first game the Texans played on this holiday since 2017.
Considering how easily the Ravens dispatched the Texans in the playoffs, this game was seen by many as a make-or-break contest for the Texans in 2024. If the Texans could handle the Ravens and give them their own beatdown, many would have taken the Texans as a serious contender for the postseason. After all, the Ravens were the Texans Kryptonite, so being able to prove that you’re not going to bow down to the last team to beat you is a strong sign of a team with grand expectations.
That’s no longer the case. At least, we should say, it’s not likely to be the case. With the game coming at the end of the season and both the Texans and Ravens being front-runners for their respective divisions, it very well may be a situation where neither team has anything more to really play for, resulting in one or both teams resting most of their best players in a game that may not have a lot of stakes attached to it. If they’re both playing for their playoff lives like the Texans were in 2023, then who knows what this game will look like.
This has the possibility to be a huge game for both teams or a dud of a game for the teams and the league alike.