NFL Releases Schedule

Texans open season against Chiefs, face Lions on Thanksgiving

By Cole McNanna | Sports Reporter
Posted 5/17/20

The schedule for the 2020 NFL season was released last Thursday evening, May 7, and is set to start on Sept. 10 when the Houston Texans travel to Kansas City, Mo. and take on the defending Super Bowl …

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NFL Releases Schedule

Texans open season against Chiefs, face Lions on Thanksgiving

Posted

The schedule for the 2020 NFL season was released last Thursday evening, May 7, and is set to start on Sept. 10 when the Houston Texans travel to Kansas City, Mo. and take on the defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs with kickoff slated for 7:20 p.m.

A few former Katy-area football players will be making a return trip to their home state throughout the season, starting in the final week of the preseason with Katy High and TCU alum Andy Dalton. The quarterback recently signed a free-agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys and will travel to NRG stadium for the teams’ final tune-up game.

To begin the regular season, the Texans will alternate between home and away games through the first four games. After the trip to Kansas City, Houston will host the Baltimore Ravens then travel to Pittsburgh to square off with the Steelers before returning home for a meeting with the Minnesota Vikings and former Morton Ranch defensive lineman Danielle Hunter.

That opening stretch to the season also serves as the Texans’ warmup before facing consecutive conference opponents from the AFC South in Weeks 5 and 6. The Jacksonville Jaguars come to town before Houston will travel to Tennessee to face the Titans, the two teams the Texans swept in conference play last season.

In Week 12, Houston will play just its second Thanksgiving Day game in franchise history and it will be a rematch of the 2012 meeting with the Detroit Lions that changed the rule books.

Then-Texans running back Justin Forsett took a carry up the middle and bounced off a defender and although it very clearly appeared that his elbow hit the turf, he hopped up and ran the rest of the length of the field for an 81-yard score.

Then-Lions head coach Jim Schwartz quickly threw his challenge flag on the field to review the play but the year prior, the league had put in an automatic challenge rule that all scoring plays would be reviewed and any challenge flag thrown on a scoring play would result in a 15-yard penalty and nullification of the review, allowing the play to stand.

Houston went on to beat Detroit, 34-31, in overtime to move to 11-1 for the first time in franchise history.

After that will be a pair of meetings with the Indianapolis Colts over a three-week span with a contest against the Chicago Bears in the Windy City sandwiched in the middle. Last year, the Texans split the season series with the Colts.

To end the regular season, the Texans host the Cincinnati Bengals and former Katy Tiger Rodney Anderson before the final conference tilt of the season with the Titans to tie up any loose ends in the playoff picture.

In addition, another Katy connection comes from former Taylor Mustang and Texas A&M Aggie Cullen Gillaspia, who is entering his second season with Houston as a fullback and special teams specialist.

Houston Texans, Katy, Taylor Mustang, Aggie, Cullen Gillaspia, Rodney Anderson, Detroit, Texans, Jim Schwartz, Danielle Hunter, Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh, Steelers, Morton Ranch