The Houston Texans didn’t get a single prime time game on their 2023 slate.
For the first time since 2006, the Texans did not have one game placed in prime time. The only other time in Texans history they did not have a prime time game was in 2003.
For new coach DeMeco Ryans, the lack of prime time games is not a problem for his team.
“You know, with that schedule, right, not having any prime time games, you know, that’s the one thing that we kind of look forward to,” Ryans said after rookie minicamp Friday. “One thing that I’ve learned is I’ve just looked at it as for us as a team, we have to go out and earn, earn our right to be in those prime time moments.”
The only reason the Texans had prime time games the past two seasons — as moribund as the franchise was — was due to the NFL’s insistence on giving every team a Thursday Night Football game. Otherwise the Texans would have been blanked in prime time starting in 2021.
Ryans is confident he can use the lack of prime time games as motivation for the team to elevate their level of play.
“It was a good opportunity for our team to just go out, put our head down, and work and just prove where we belong,” said Ryans. “Excited about it.”
With flex scheduling, wherein the NFL flexes a better game into Sunday Night Football starting in Week 11, should the Texans start to look like a viable playoff contender, they could end up playing in a prime time game or two. Any flex into Sunday Night Football would be the Texans’ first appearance since Dec. 1, 2019, when they beat the New England Patriots 28-22 at NRG Stadium.
