HOUSTON – In a schedule change intended to gain a larger national audience, the NFL flexed the Texans’ Dec. 3 home game against the Denver Broncos to a noon kickoff from an original 3 p.m. start time.
The NFL shifted the Carolina Panthers-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game to 3:05 p.m.
It’s an acknowledgment of the Texans’ growing national relevance and success led by coach DeMeco Ryans and standout rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, an NFL Rookie of the Year frontrunner who’s a league Most Valuable Player candidate.
“It’s all about getting the games that deserve the wider audience into windows where the most fans can watch them,” NFL vice president of broadcasting Mike North said on a Zoom call with Houston media. “And that’s really what this move is all about. If the Denver-Houston game back in April or May when the schedule-makers were putting the schedule together it would have been two teams with records of .500 or better, it probably would have been scheduled for noon Central originally. It might have been scheduled for prime time had we known.
“Can we maximize the footprint? Can we up the percentage of households that game can be seen in? It is a little ironic that we’re moving a Texans game into a noon window to try to get it more exposure, it’s usually the other way moving out of noon. In this particular instance given what the Sunday afternoon packages look like that day, we thought this was the right move.”
If the Texans had been in their previous time slot, they would have been competing with a high profile game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Win-win for everybody,” North said. “If we could move Denver-Houston to noon, we could increase the footprint and it wouldn’t have to compete with San Fran-Philly, so that’s a win for CBS. It might end up going to half the country or more. A rising tide that lifts all boats.”
Now, the NFL is allocating its top CBS broadcast crew of Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson and giving the game a larger percentage of the coverage across the nation.
The Texans are 6-4, doubling last season’s victory total from a 3-13-1 season and are riding a three-game winning streak heading into Sunday’s AFC South showdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which had been under consideration a potential Monday night flex, per North. Plus, the Broncos are 5-5 under new coach Sean Payton.
“It wasn’t going to go to Sunday night,” North said. “Ravens-Chargers is still Sunday Night Football worthy. There was a discussion about flexing for Monday Night Football. This is our first year of Monday night flex. We are going to do one at some point, it’s pretty obvious it’s going to happen, just not sure Thanksgiving weekend is the right time to do it the first time. They have earned this opportunity.”
The Texans are not scheduled for any prime-time games this season. With Stroud having arguably the best rookie quarterback season in NFL history, there is a lot more increased interest in the Texans. That includes him, Ryans, rookie wide receiver Tank Dell and several other players. The Texans, a playoff contender, have had dramatic last-season comeback wins over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Personally, it feels like a pretty big miss by the scheduling team to not have had the Texans in a national window,” North said. “It’s been a fun story to watch. C.J. worked his way into the national consciousness (with Tampa Bay and Cincinnati wins and his performances). He has certainly gotten everybody’s attention. The team was relevant, the record was good, the team was competitive beforehand. It was probably as much a testament to the coach as it is to the quarterback.
“I would say that pretty early in the season we realized that coach Ryans had them playing hard and winning games and they were going to be relevant. The fact that they’re sitting here at Thanksgiving with a winning record, we’re looking at January and that means more bigger windows, more fans being able to watch their games. Every Sunday night, the lead story is, ‘What did C.J. do today? We’re making sure more fans can watch more Texans games down the stretch.
“Within the first four to six weeks, we all had a sense we were watching something special. I’m not sure we thought we were looking at a potential MVP candidate and a potential division title. By October, we were aware the Texans were going to be relevant down the stretch. I think it took the 500-yard, five touchdown game to really break through and then going on to beat Cincinnati. There’s a lot of moving pieces.”
The Texans’ December road game against the New York Jets is under consideration for a potential Monday night flex, but North indicated it wasn’t an extremely likely scenario with the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants scheduled currently for a Monday night national game.
“We’re going to do a Monday night flex at some point, but I wonder about the upside for changing Packers-Giants into Texans-Jets on a side-by-side window,” North said. “Fans already have some optionality. Packers-Giants are two big legacy brands. From a ratings standpoint and viewer standpoint, Packers-Giants might outdraw Texans-Jets. It’s definitely something we’re still discussing. The teams have been made aware that we’re open to it. I’m not sure we see a viewership gain. It might not be our best move, but lets see what happens. Lets see what the records are, lets see what the fans want.”
In the future, as soon as 2024, the Texans are likely to be scheduled for prime-time games.
“A lot of football left to be played, most of us are not looking forward to the 2024 schedule, but I kind of am already,” North said. “Look if this team wins the division, makes the playoffs, finishes with a winning record, those are all of the factors that go into your national television exposure in future seasons. There’s bound to be some big games. And the coach, the quarterback, the receiver are all becoming household names and becoming well-known. Teams that make deep playoff runs in January end up getting themselves maximized in prime-time.”
Aaron Wilson is a contributor to Sports Talk 790.
Photo: Logan Riely / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images