Houston Texans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Year founded: 2002 | |||||
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| City | Houston, Texas | ||||
| Team colors | Deep Steel Blue, Battle Red, and Liberty White | ||||
| Head Coach | Gary Kubiak | ||||
| Owner | Bob McNair | ||||
| General manager | Rick Smith | ||||
| Mascot | Toro | ||||
| League/Conference affiliations | |||||
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National Football League (2002–present)
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| Team history | |||||
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| Championships | |||||
| League Championships (0) | |||||
| Conference Championships (0) | |||||
| Division Championships (0) | |||||
| Home fields | |||||
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The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Texans joined the NFL as a 2002 expansion team. The city's previous franchise, the Houston Oilers, moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1997, changing their name to the Tennessee Titans in 1999.
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[edit] Franchise history
[edit] AFL/NFL in Houston: 1960 – 1996
Professional Football in Houston dates back to 1960 when oilman Bud Adams founded the Houston Oilers, a charter member of the American Football League. The Oilers appeared in the first three AFL championships, winning the first two before falling in double overtime to the Dallas Texans in 1962. The Oilers became the first professional football team to play in a domed stadium, when they moved into Houston's Astrodome for the 1968 season. The Oilers had success in the late 70’s (known as the Luv Ya Blue era) with running back Earl Campbell and head coach Bum Phillips. They would advance to the AFC Championship game in 1978 and 1979, but lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers both times. They would find success again in the late 80’s and early 90’s with quarterback Warren Moon, making the playoffs seven consecutive seasons, yet never advancing past the second round. A string of playoff futility that included infamously coughing up a 32 point second half lead to the Buffalo Bills in 1992. The Oilers drafted Steve McNair in 1995 and Eddie George in 1996, but fans in Houston were forced to watch them play most of their careers in another city.
Adams alienated many fans in Houston with his questionable decisions, including firing the extremely popular Bum Phillips and threatening in 1987 to move the team to Jacksonville, Florida if improvements were not made to the Astrodome. The city agreed to pay $67 million in renovations which included the removal of the iconic centerfield scoreboard. When the city refused to help finance a new stadium just a few years later, he moved the franchise to Tennessee for the 1997 season. After playing two season as the Tennessee Oilers, they were renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999. The city of Houston is still paying back the debt from the renovations they made to the Astrodome in 1987.
[edit] The Birth of the Texans: 1997-2001
In the first part of 1997, football was on the back burner of Bob McNair's mind, as he attempted to bring a National Hockey League team to Houston. In June 1997 the NHL owners turned down his efforts to bring an expansion hockey team to Houston, stating, among other reasons, that the Compaq Center was not an adequate facility for an expansion hockey team. McNair’s only option now would be to buy an existing franchise and move it. They began exploring options with the Edmonton Oilers, a once-proud franchise that had hit hard times economically.
Barely two weeks later, the fourth-largest city in the United States found itself without professional football for the first time since 1959 as Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams got the final approval to move his team to Tennessee. A lawsuit filed by the city of Houston, Harris County, and other parties was settled with Adams paying millions of dollars for leaving town. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, local entrepreneur and San Diego Padres owner John J. Moores, whose name was often attached to efforts to return the NFL to Houston, said that the city’s football fans would be in for a long, dry spell without football and that he did not foresee another league expansion in the next 10 years. While the NHL Oilers remained on the market, McNair made his decision to set his sights higher and founded Houston NFL Holdings. Steve Patterson, who had been working with McNair in an attempt to bring NHL to Houston, was immediately named as head of the new organization.
Now committed to the task at hand, McNair and Houston got an immediate morale boost in October 1997, when the NFL Stadium Committee reported to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on the current attractiveness of Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Houston. Cleveland had lost the Browns in 1995 and had been promised by Tagliabue that the next expansion team would play there, bringing the league total to 31 teams. A future expansion to 32 teams seemed both logical and destined to happen, and Tagliabue praised McNair’s strong initial efforts. Encouraged by the commissioner’s strong words, local support for a return of the NFL to Houston spread like wildfire across the city. Two days later, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLS&R) officials announced they would push for a domed stadium as part of the bid to lure the NFL back to Houston.
In March 1998, McNair and company got more good news when the league made it official that Cleveland would receive an expansion franchise, making it the 31st team in the NFL. Houstonians had been concerned that the league would allow an existing franchise to move to Cleveland, thus keeping the number of teams at 30 and dealing a serious blow to Houston’s hopes of securing the next expansion franchise. Tagliabue said that the league would likely add a 32nd team in the next two years in either Houston, Los Angeles, or Toronto. The mention of Los Angeles worried plenty of Houston officials. Television money had become such a huge part of the NFL that it seemed unlikely the owners would pass up the chance to re-introduce professional football to the second-biggest TV market in the country. In early May, those fears became reality as entertainment guru Michael Ovitz announced he would lead a largely privately financed $750 million project to build a stadium in Carson, California.
In late October 1998, Tagliabue announced that the NFL owners would have a decision by April 1999 as to which city would be awarded the NFL expansion franchise. Both Bob McNair and Ovitz stated they needed to know the situation by the first quarter of the new year, lest they lose public support due to long delays while the league developed. Ovitz now had competition coming from his own city, however, as real estate developer Ed Roski threw his hat into the ring to bring another team to Los Angeles. Roski’s proposal centered around putting a 68,000-seat stadium inside the shell of the Los Angeles Coliseum.
On March 16, 1999, the NFL owners, by a 29-2 vote, approved a resolution to award L.A. the expansion franchise if the city could put together an acceptable ownership team and stadium deal by September 15. If the parties could not reach or be very near reaching an agreement, it was decided that the committee would turn its recommendation to Houston. A month later, NFL executives flew to Los Angeles to see how things had progressed. They found that neither group had relented to the other, that the city was not allowing tax dollars to be used for a new stadium, and that neither group was prepared to build the kind of state-of-the-art facility that Houston had been guaranteeing for more than six months.
When the NFL officers returned to Los Angeles in late May, Ovitz had changed his tune, unveiling plans to turn the area around the Coliseum into a 60-acre complex of parks, parking garages, shopping areas and a brand-new stadium. Tagliabue and the the NFL officials were pleased with the look, but daunted by the cost, including $225 million for parking garages that was not available from either the city or the state. In June Tagliabue expressed his frustration with Los Angeles’ inability to get a plan together and advised McNair to resume his discussions with the expansion committee.
On September 9, 1999, the league’s expansion committee indicated that McNair and other Houston officials should be prepared to attend an October 6 meeting of the NFL owners in Atlanta. L.A.’s effort was not completely dead, as Ovitz, Roski, and newcomer Marvin Davis all scrambled to find the right deal to woo the league back in the last six days before the deadline. In the first week of October, Ovitz announced that his group was prepared to offer $540 million for the NFL franchise. Later that week, McNair’s Houston NFL Holdings proposed a bid of $700 million to the owners.
On the morning of October 6, 1999, in Atlanta, the NFL owners voted 29-0 to award the 32nd franchise and the 2004 Super Bowl to Houston.
After that, things moved fast for the yet-to-be named football team. Focus groups were formed across the state to determine the image and direction for the franchise. NFL Properties and team officials began working on the identity, name and logo and the front office began to take shape with the hiring of former Washington Redskins General Manager Charley Casserly as Executive Vice President/General Manager in January of 2000.
That spring, Houston NFL 2002 celebrated the official groundbreaking of Reliant Stadium. The 69,500-seat state-of-the-art facility would become the NFL's first retractable-roof stadium.
After almost a year of speculation, the worst kept secret in Houston became reality as the team was officially christened the Houston Texans during a downtown celebration in September 2000 that included NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Bob McNair unveiling the new logo.
On January 21, 2001 the Texans turned to the coaching staff and introduced Dom Capers as the club's first head coach. Capers had served the previous two seasons as the Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive coordinator. From 1995-98, Capers was the head coach of the expansion Carolina Panthers. Capers would soon fill out the rest of the staff in the months to follow. After five long seasons, Houston was at last ready to re-join the league.
[edit] Inaugural Season and the Dom Capers era: 2002-2005
The Texans launched their inaugural campaign on September 8, 2002 against the Dallas Cowboys at Reliant Stadium. Rookie David Carr hooked up with tight end Billy Miller on the third play from scrimmage for a touchdown and would shock their intra-state rivals 19-10, becoming just the second expansion team ever to win their first game. The Texans would lose their next five games before winning for the first time on the road against the Jaguars, a team they would find success against in the seasons to come.
Victories over the New York Giants in Houston and the Steelers in Pittsburgh (despite just 46 total yards of offense – an NFL record for a winning team) and the Texans would finish 4-12, sending two players (Gary Walker and Aaron Glenn) to the Pro Bowl, the most ever by an expansion team. The season was deemed a success despite David Carr being sacked an NFL record 76 times and the realization that Tony Boselli, the man they had hoped would protect their young quarterback, would never play a down of football for the team.
The next two seasons would see the Texans making steady progress. In 2003, they started out much as they had done in 2002 by shocking the heavily favored Dolphins in Miami to open the season. No other expansion team had ever won their first two opening games before. The Texans would only improve their record by one game in that season, but after a victory over the eventual NFC champion Carolina Panthers and a tough overtime loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, optimism was high going into 2004 that they could compete with any team in the league. That optimism soured, however, after the Texans started the ’04 season 0-3 and for the first time fans began to question the direction in which head coach Dom Capers and the front office were taking. No other expansion team had taken so long to win back-to-back games and expectations in the third season were growing. Finally, after their first victory of 2004 in Kansas City, the Texans came home and defeated the Oakland Raiders the following week to secure their first win streak in franchise history.
After sweeping division rivals Tennessee and Jacksonville and another impressive pair of back-to-back wins late in the season, the Texans were poised to finish the year 8-8. All they had to do was beat the 3-12 Cleveland Browns at home. The Texans came out flat and unprepared, however, and fell to the Browns 22-14. The honeymoon for the Texans was officially over and for the first time David Carr would hear boos from the stands. The game would be an omen of bad times ahead. On the bright side, second year receiver Andre Johnson was selected to his first Pro Bowl.
Despite the disappointing end to the 2004 season and a troubling preseason, a playoff push by the Texans in 2005 still seemed likely. They got hammered by the Bills in Buffalo 22-7 to open the season and then humiliated by the Steelers at home 27-7 the following week. As the losses mounted, whatever optimism that was left over from the previous year faded away. Offensive Coordinator Chris Palmer was replaced before the third week and media and fans began to point to questionable personal decisions and lackluster draft picks by General Manager Charley Casserly and doubt about Dom Capers and David Carr’s ability to lead the team in the future began to surface. They would start out the season 0-6 before beating the Browns in Houston only to follow that up with another six game losing streak. By the end of the season most were calling for Dom Capers and Charley Casserly to be fired and a growing majority began to include David Carr on that list as well. Conspiracy theories that the Texans were tanking games to secure the number one pick after several close losses late in the year culminated with the “Bush Bowl” in San Francisco during the last week of the season. The Texans and 49ers came into the game with the two worst records in the NFL and the loser would “win” the right to choose USC running back Reggie Bush in the 2006 NFL Draft. The Texans lost 20-17 and finished 2-14, the worst in the league. One bright spot was the sensational rookie season by kick returner Jerome Mathis who returned two kicks back for touchdowns, including one for 99-yards against Kansas City. Mathis was Houston's only player in 2005 to be selected to the Pro Bowl.
[edit] 2005 Fallout and the 2006 Draft
After finishing 2-14 in 2005 the Texans fired Dom Capers and most of his staff. General Manager Charley Casserly was spared, but would eventually leave after the draft, replaced by Rick Smith. Gary Kubiak, offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos, was hired to take over and the franchise headed into the most controversial off-season in team history. While most in the national media believed that the Texans drafting Reggie Bush in the 2006 Draft was a no-brainer, many in Houston began to voice their desire for the team to draft hometown hero Vince Young after his stunning performance in the National Championship Game.
In February, after a vote of confidence from Gary Kubiak, the Texans would exercise an $8 million bonus option for David Carr, guaranteeing he would be a Texan in 2006. Still, the debate between Bush and Young raged on for months over local sports talk radio and internet message boards. While support for Vince Young was mounting, most still thought Reggie Bush would eventually be drafted by the Texans.
In a stunning turn of events, however, the Texans shocked the NFL world on the eve of the NFL Draft by announcing that North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams - not Reggie Bush or Vince Young - would be the team’s choice for their number one pick. Fans were angered and shocked, many booed the choice during a public draft party at Reliant Stadium and the Texans were ridiculed by the national media for committing what many believed was the worst mistake in NFL Draft history. Comparisons to Michael Jordan and Sam Bowie were immediately being made and the endless second-guessing began. Reggie Bush fell to the New Orleans Saints and Vince Young was taken by the Titans. By drafting Williams, the Texans addressed their greatest need, yet it would turn out to be a public relations nightmare that would haunt them for much of the 2006 season. By the end of the year Bush and the Saints were on their way to the NFC Championship game and Young had won the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Mario Williams finished with 4.5 sacks and 47 tackles despite suffering from plantar fasciitis for the entire season. While many in the media have been quick to label Williams a bust, only time will tell if the Texans made the right decision or a colossal mistake.
[edit] Kubiak Takes Over: 2006 - Present
- Further information: 2006 Houston Texans season
On September 10, 2006, native Houstonian Gary Kubiak made his head coaching debut as he led the Texans against the Philadelphia Eagles at Reliant Stadium. Despite taking the first drive down the field for a touchdown, the game would result in a disappointing 24-10 loss. They would lose the next two in embarrassing fashion before awarding Kubiak his first career victory with a win over the Miami Dolphins in week four. After a loss to Dallas, two of the next four games would be against division rival Jacksonville – and Houston would beat them both times. As unexplainable as the Texans’ continued ability to beat the Jaguars, so too was a game against the Titans where they out-gained Tennessee in total yards 427 to 197 but lost due to five turnovers. David Carr would suffer one of his worst performances of his career before being pulled in favor of backup Sage Rosenfels. Another strange game had the Texans finishing with negative five yards passing, yet winning a game against the Oakland Raiders.
The Texans would suffer two heart-breaking losses in the second half of the season, first allowing the Buffalo Bills to score a go-ahead touchdown with just nine seconds remaining and then three weeks later against the Tennessee Titans and Vince Young. Playing in his hometown of Houston for the first time as a professional, Young ran 39 yards for the winning touchdown in overtime. To make matters worse for the Texans, some fans, who thought Houston made a mistake by not drafting him, showed up wearing Vince Young jerseys and cheered as he scored in overtime.
A week later, the emotionally exhausted Texans showed up in Foxborough to face the New England Patriots and were hammered 40-7 as David Carr turned in another poor performance, throwing four interceptions. The Texans would make the most of their two remaining games, snapping a nine game losing streak to the Colts by stunning the eventual Super Bowl Champions 27-24 and then finishing the season by beating the Browns in Houston, their first back-to-back wins in two years. The Texans finished with 6 wins in 2006, four more than the previous year. Andre Johnson led the league in receptions with 103 and was selected to his second Pro Bowl. The Texans got contributions from all seven of their 2006 draft picks, including DE Mario Williams, TE Owen Daniels and LB DeMeco Ryans - a second round pick who was selected as the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.
- Further information: 2007 Houston Texans season
Most of the speculation in Houston following the 2006 season involved David Carr and his future with the Texans. In a Houston Chronicle article in February, owner Bob McNair is quoted as saying "David has been inconsistent, and we've said that. We've got to get better consistency there, either with David or some additional help." On March 21, reports surfaced that backup Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Schaub would be traded to the Texans. The Texans and Falcons swapped first round picks (Houston now picks at #10, Atlanta at #8) and the Texans gave Atlanta their second round pick in 2007 and 2008. [1] Upon his introduction in Houston on March 22, Schaub was announced as the starting quarterback in 2007. Despite reports that the Texans were attempting to trade David Carr, he was released the following day.
[edit] Nickname, logo and uniforms
On March 2, 2000, Houston NFL 2002 announces that the team name search had been narrowed down to five choices: Apollos, Bobcats, Stallions, Texans and Wildcatters. The five names are determined after several months of research conducted jointly by Houston NFL 2002 and NFL Properties. An online survey regarding the name generated more than 65,000 responses in just seven days. In April the list of five names is narrowed down to three: Apollos, Stallions and Texans. Before selecting "Texans", owner Bob McNair asked fellow NFL owner Lamar Hunt for his permission to use the moniker. Hunt and his franchise, the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs), were charter members of the American Football League.
On September 6, 2000, the NFL's 32nd franchise is officially christened the Houston Texans before thousands at a downtown rally on Texas Avenue. Before unveiling the logo Bob McNair described the colors as "Deep Steel Blue", "Battle Red" and "Liberty White". The logo was abstract depiction of a bull split in such a way to resemble the Texas flag, including a lone star, the five points of which representing pride, courage, strength, tradition and independence. A year later the Texans were to release the uniforms on September 11, 2001 but that date was postponed after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks the date was reschedule to September 25, 2001, the Texans unveiled their uniforms during another downtown rally
The Texans' helmet is dark blue with the Texans bull logo. The uniform design consists of red trim and either dark blue or white jerseys. The team wears white pants with its blue jerseys, blue pants with its white jerseys, and on occasion they will wear all-white or all-blue. In 2003, the Texans introduced an alternative red jersey with blue trim. The Texans have never worn a red jersey-blue pants combination.
In 2002 the team wore a patch commemorating their inaugural season.
Like many other NFL teams located in subtropical climates, the Texans traditionally wear their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season — forcing opponents to wear their dark ones under the hot autumns in Houston. The team will still wear white jerseys during those early regular season games even though the retractable roof of the club's home field, Reliant Stadium, may be closed.
 Default Home Uniform |
 Default Road Uniform |
 Third Uniform |
 Alternate Home Uniform |
 Alternate Road Uniform |
 Houston Transition Logo |
 Logo & Script |
 Expansion Draft Logo |
 Countdown To Kickoff Logo |
 Inaugural Season Patch |
[edit] Traditions
- Battle Red Day - On Battle Red Day the team wears the red alternate jerseys and fans are encouraged to wear red to the game.
- Bull Pen - The sections behind the north end zone of Reliant Stadium are known as the Bull Pen. Like the "Dawg Pound" in Cleveland, the most avid fans attend games in the Bull Pen and regular members have helped create and implement fan traditions, songs and chants.
- Bull Pen Pep Band - 45-member musical group that performs at all Houston Texans home games.
[edit] Statistics
[edit] Season-by-season records
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties
| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 4th AFC South | -- |
| 2003 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 4th AFC South | -- |
| 2004 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 3rd AFC South | -- |
| 2005 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 4th AFC South | -- |
| 2006 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 4th AFC South | -- |
| Totals | 24 | 56 | 0 | (2002-2006, regular season) | |
| 0 | 0 | - | (2002-2006, playoffs) | ||
| 24 | 56 | 0 | (all games, 2002-2006, including playoffs) | ||
[edit] Record vs. Opponents
(As of January 1, 2007. Includes postseason records.)
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties
[edit] Single Season Records
- Passing Attempts: 466, David Carr (2004)
- Passing Completions: 285, David Carr (2004)
- Passing Yards: 3,531, David Carr (2004)
- Passing Touchdowns: 16, David Carr (2004)
- Passing Interceptions: 15, David Carr (2002)
- Rushing Attempts: 302, Domanick Williams (formerly Domanick Davis) (2004)
- Rushing Yards: 1,188, Domanick Williams (formerly Domanick Davis) (2004)
- Rushing Touchdowns: 13, Domanick Williams (formerly Domanick Davis) (2004)
- Receptions: 103, Andre Johnson (2006)
- Receiving Yards: 1,147, Andre Johnson (2006)
- Receiving Touchdowns: 6, Andre Johnson (2004), Corey Bradford (2002)
- Quarterback Sacks: 8, Jeff Posey (2002)
- Pass Interceptions: 7, Marcus Coleman (2003)
[edit] Players of note
[edit] Current players
[edit] Updated Texans Depth Chart
[edit] NFL Draft History
- Further information: List of Houston Texans (NFL) draft selections
[edit] Awards
- 2004 Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year: Domanick Williams (formerly Domanick Davis)
- 2006 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: DeMeco Ryans
[edit] Pro Bowl Selections
- 2002 DB Aaron Glenn, DT Gary Walker
- 2004 WR Andre Johnson
- 2005 KR Jerome Mathis
- 2006 WR Andre Johnson
[edit] Pro Football Hall of Famers
- None
[edit] Retired numbers
- None
[edit] Other notable alumni
- Tony Boselli (OL 2002) (Did not play due to injury)
- Aaron Glenn (DB 2002-2004)
- Billy Miller (TE 2002-2004)
- Jamie Sharper (LB 2002-2004)
- Gary Walker (DL 2002-2005)
- Chris Palmer (Offensive Coordinator, 2002-2005)
- Charley Casserly (General Manager, 2002-2005)
- Dom Capers (Head Coach, 2002-2005)
- Seth Payne (DT 2002-2006)
- Eric Moulds (WR 2006)
- Domanick Williams (RB 2003-2006)
- David Carr (QB 2002-2006)
[edit] Head Coaches
As of December 31, 2006. Only regular season and postseason games are counted.
| Name | Nat | From | To | Record | Titles | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | |||||
| Dom Capers |  |
January 21, 2001 | January 2, 2006 | 18 | 46 | 0 | 0 |
| Gary Kubiak | |
January 26, 2006 | Present | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
[edit] Current staff
- Owner/CEO/Chairman - Robert C. McNair
- General Manager - Rick Smith
- Director of Football Operations - Lloyd Richards
- Head Coach - Gary Kubiak
- Assistant Head Coach - Mike Sherman
Offensive Coaches
- Offensive Coordinator - Mike Sherman
- Quarterbacks Coach - Kyle Shanahan
- Running Backs Coach - Chick Harris
- Offensive Line Coach - John Benton
- Assistant Offensive Line Coach - Frank Pollack
- Wide Receivers Coach - Larry Kirksey
- Tight Ends Coach - Brian Pariani
- Offensive Quality Control Coach - Mike McDaniel
Defensive Coaches
- Defensive Coordinator - Richard Smith
- Senior Defensive Assistant - Frank Bush
- Defensive Line Coach - Jethro Franklin
- Linebackers Coach - Johnny Holland
- Defensive Backs Coach - Jon Hoke
- Assistant Defensive Backs Coach - Martin Bayless
- Defensive Quality Control Coach - Robert Saleh
Speciality coaches
- Special Teams Coordinator - Joe Marciano
- Special Teams Assistant - Vacant
- Strength and Conditioning Coach - Dan Riley
- Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach - Ray Wright
- Strength and Conditioning Assistant - Virgil Campbell
- Strength and Conditioning Assistant - Everett Coleman
[edit] Trivia
- The Texans are just the second expansion team since 1960 to win their very first NFL regular season contest. The Texans defeated the Dallas Cowboys on September 8, 2002 by a score of 19-10. The only other expansion team to win its very first NFL regular season contest was the Minnesota Vikings, who defeated the Chicago Bears on Opening Day 1961 by a score of 37-13.
- Billy Miller scored the first points in franchise history with a touchdown catch on the team's third play from scrimmage against the Dallas Cowboys.
- The Texans became the first expansion team in NFL history to win their first two opening day games when they defeated the Miami Dolphins to open the 2003 season.
- Only 9 players remain from the 2002 inaugural season: OL Chester Pitts, OL Fred Weary, OL Steve McKinney, LB Kailee Wong, LB Troy Evans, DB Demarcus Faggins, DB Jason Simmons, K Kris Brown and P Chad Stanley.
- The Texans are the only team in the NFL to never win a divisional championship nor finish better than 3rd place in division.
- As of the 2006 NFL season, Houston is the only NFL team with all three of the following distinctions: they have yet to post a winning season, they have yet to play in a regular-season Monday Night Football game, and have yet to make their first playoff appearance. The Texans are also one of six franchises, along with the New Orleans Saints, Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, and Detroit Lions to have never played in a Super Bowl.
- The Houston Texans are the sixth professional football team to adopt the nickname "Texans." The first was the Dallas Texans, who after one season became the last NFL team to fold in 1952. The second was the American Football League Dallas Texans, who played in three AFL seasons starting with the league's inauguraral season in 1960 before becoming the Kansas City Chiefs. The third was also named the Houston Texans, playing in the World Football League and moving to Shreveport before the league folded in 1974. A fourth incarnation of the Dallas Texans played four seasons in the Arena Football League before disbanding in 1993. Finally, one of the Canadian Football League's U.S. teams, the Sacramento Gold Miners moved to San Antonio where they played one season as the San Antonio Texans before disbanding in 1995. Other possible nicknames considered for the new Houston franchise were Stallions, Toros, Wildcatters, and Apollos.
- The Texans hold the record for the fewest yards gained by a winning team in NFL history (47). The record was set on December 8, 2002 when the Texans defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-6 despite being outgained 422-47 in total yards.
- David Carr holds the dubious title as the most sacked quarterback in a single season. In 2002, he was sacked 76 times, but still managed to take every snap for the team that season. (The 1986 Eagles hold the NFL record for most sacks permitted by a team in one season with 104.)
- David Carr tied an NFL record with 22 consecutive completions in a 2006 game againt Buffalo at Reliant Stadium. He is tied with Mark Brunell who completed 22 consecutive passes on the same field against the Texans just a few weeks earlier.
- At the 2002 Pro Bowl, The Texans tied the 1961 Vikings for the most players selected (2) from an expansion team and become the first expansion club to be represented at the Pro Bowl since the New Orleans Saints in 1967, when all teams were required to have at least one player selected. The two representatives for the Texans that year were cornerback Aaron Glenn and defensive end Gary Walker.
- The Texans have never won more than two games in a row.
[edit] Radio and television
As of 2007, the Texans' flagship radio stations were KILT 610AM and KILT 100.3FM. The AM station has an all-sports format, while the FM station plays contemporary country music. Both are owned by CBS Radio. Marc Vandermeer is the play-by-play announcer. Most preseason games are telecast by KTRK, an ABC owned and operated station. Joel Meyers calls the games on TV.
[edit] External links
- Official Houston Texans web site
- houstonprofootball.com - Wall to wall coverage of the Texans and message board, established in 1999
- TexansTalk.com - Houston Texans fan website and message boards
- TexansBullPen.com - One of the original fan sites with lots of photos
- Sports E-Cyclopedia.com
- The Houston Texans #1 Fan Group
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