Countdown To Kickoff: Texans - Browns

When the NFL scheduling gurus planned the Texans’ 2017 opponents, this was supposed to be some sort of revenge game. The 2016 Texans had, mysteriously, decided that Brock Osweiler was the answer for their long-running question at quarterback. By the end of the season, the Texans had come to their senses, and Brock was traded to the Browns, who are the most muddled franchise in the NFL. The divorce between Brock and the Texans was clearly fraught with difficulties, as Osweiler regularly made negative remarks about the coaching and culture in Houston and was clearly looking to state his case as a credible starting quarterback in this league while in Cleveland. For some reason (his general sh.ttiness, franchise dysfunctionality, whatever) Brock didn’t manage to make the grade in Cleveland and is now being his usual self back home at Denver.

So Cleveland dropped Brock and decided that DeShone Kizer was their guy. When this game was slated to be a matchup between Kizer and the Texans’ Deshaun Watson, it had the appearance of being a battle between good, young quarterbacks that may finally answer the questions at the most important position in the game for their franchises. Then Cleveland, being Cleveland, benched Kizer for Kevin Hogan, and the Browns’ quarterback carousel spun again.

The Texans, on the other hand, seem willing to stand by their man, even should he have some struggles (the fact that the fan base would grab pitchforks should the team revert to Tom Savage might have something to do with it, but...). The Texans lost Whitney Mercilus and J.J. Watt to season-ending injuries in last Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, so the team is beginning a new life sans pass rush. Perhaps a game against the hapless Browns might be the spark the team and fans need to pick up their spirits.

Chat about Texans-Browns here until the first quarter thread goes live at 11:45 a.m. CDT.