Announce team for Netflix Christmas broadcast among remaining questions on Texans schedule

If it feels like we’ve covered the Houston Texans’ 2024 schedule in great depth, that’s because we have. We’ve previewed the revealed schedule with several articles, and also continue to recap the schedule with more in-depth analysis (including a few more below).

The reason we’ve discussed the schedule so much is simple: This season’s schedule is symbolic of the Texans’ return to relevance. The Texans have six games where they have the stage to themselves, including four games in prime time. Five of these “national stage” matches take place in the final nine games of the season. The Texans play on Christmas Day. These are all difficult challenges, but fun.

That said, there are still some unanswered questions regarding the 2024 roster, and we may not get answers until the season starts. The questions are:

What might change date and time wise on some of these games?
It all depends on how the Texans perform as the season goes on and the propensity of the powers that be to invoke flexible scheduling rules that allow them to move on to spicier matchups in prime time. Here are the flex schedule rules, courtesy of the Texans’ press release with their schedule:

This season, the “flex schedule” for Sunday Night Football may be used up to two times between Weeks 5 and 10, and at the NFL’s discretion during Weeks 11 through 17; for Monday Night Football at the NFL’s discretion in Weeks 12-17; and for Thursday Night Football, it can be used up to two times between Weeks 13 and 17. During these flexible scheduling windows, games originally scheduled for Sunday Night Football (on NBC), Monday Night Football (on ESPN or ABC) and Thursday Night Football (on Amazon Prime Video) are tentatively scheduled and subject to change. Only Sunday afternoon games (or those listed as TBD) may be moved to Sunday evening, Monday evening or Thursday evening, in which case the originally scheduled Sunday/Monday evening game would be moved to Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon games may also be moved between 1 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. ET. As in previous seasons, for Week 18, the final weekend of the season, the Saturday, Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening game schedule is not assigned. In Week 18, two games will be played on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET and 8:15 p.m. ET), with the remainder played on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. ET and 4:25 p.m. ET) and one game against will be played on Sunday evening (8:20 p.m. ET). Specific dates, start times and networks for Week 18 matches will be determined and announced following the conclusion of Week 17.

The Texans are unlikely to falter, largely because they are already playing in the top spots for the majority of the second half of the season. Another thing to keep in mind: The Texans’ Week 18 date and time has not yet been determined. Last season in Week 18, they ended up playing on ESPN Saturday night against the Colts with a playoff spot on the line.

Who will produce and commentate on Netflix’s Christmas Day Game?
Netflix literally burst onto the NFL broadcast partner scene with this schedule, as the league essentially put both Christmas Day games up for auction, and Netflix ended up saying “YES” to a price of 75 million dollars for each of the two holiday games. , including the Ravens’ visit to NRG Stadium to face the Texans. Netflix is ​​relatively new to live programming, let alone NFL football games, so I assume they will farm out the production of the game (i.e. equipment, cameras, satellite, etc. .) to one of the NFL’s other broadcast partners, likely the NFL Network itself. The announced team for the Ravens-Texans game must also be determined. This game could have major ramifications on the playoff race, so introducing a new announcing team in this environment could have a strange feel. Keep Tony Romo off the show, that’s all I’m asking.

How do we think JJ Watt views this Texans schedule?
I’ll start this paragraph by saying that I think the chances of Watt returning to active football are still very, very slim. However, he certainly did not close the door on this possibility and, in the meantime, I will consider this possibility. So if it’s indeed possible that Watt returns as a Texan, he needed to at least take a quick look at the schedule. If Watt were to return, it would probably be in the second half of the season, so let’s say he returns in Week 11, for the Monday night game in Dallas, which sounds like the type of stage Watt really likes to be on. find. . That would give him three games and then the Texans’ bye week in Week 14. Indeed, the late bye week might make this schedule slightly more appealing to Watt, who knows? The bottom line for Watt is for the Texans to be relevant before the end of the season. He wants to compete for a Super Bowl.

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