The Houston Texans not only had the honor of blowing out the Los Angeles Chargers in the wild card round of the playoffs but they also had the honor of doing so on Nickelodeon. This meant that while some suckers fell for watching the regular broadcast on CBS and getting stuck with the normal commentary, those of us who bucked tradition and flipped to Nickelodeon got to see Nate Burleson call the game with SpongeBob and Patrick Star.
At first, the game was an absolute snooze fest, as the Texans trailed 6-0 and looked lifeless offensively. Fortunately, the offense kicked it into high-gear in the second half and with the team up 20-6, they were about to give Patrick a lot to cheer about.
On the third play of the fourth quarter, Justin Herbert fired the ball to Will Dissly, who juggled the ball, which sent it flying into the waiting arms of Derek Stingley Jr. The Texans defender then returned the ball 54 yards down the field and had Patrick erupting with enthusiasm.
Patrick couldn't believe what he was seeing 😭
— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025
📺: Nickelodeon NFL Wild Card Game pic.twitter.com/Y8JSSV1TUH
Patrick Star was every Texans fan when watching Derek Stingley's INT
Patrick's reaction here is great because he's really just yelling a bunch of gibberish for most of the return. The "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" was also quite funny. It's simply a great call and if you weren't tuning into Nickelodeon, then you missed a lot of fun moments like these.
While the Texans ended up having to settle for a field goal, Stingley's efforts on this play showed that this was Houston's game to win. The Texans went up 23-6 with the field goal and while the Chargers did score on their next drive, the Texans blocked the field goal and took it to the house. They never let the Chargers score again.
Houston will be eagerly watching the final two AFC playoff games of the weekend to see who its opponent is in the divisional round. If the better seeds win both games, the Texans will head to Arrowhead Stadium for a rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs. If the Bills win and Ravens lose, they'll head to Buffalo. If the Ravens win but the Bills lose, they'll head to Baltimore so a lot is at stake in these final two games.