Countdown to Kickoff: Preseason Mode - New Orleans Saints at Houston Texans

There was an idea. The idea was to right an unspeakable wrong by return NFL football to Houston, Texas so the people of that area had a decent, less prison-inclined professional football team in Texas other than the Cowboys.

And for the last 20 years or so, the Houston Texans have accomplished this living in relative peace and harmony with the people and city of Houston. But of late, the relationship has begun to fray around the edges. Last year, the team we love and support saw their foundation, once full of potential, laid to ashes thanks to ineptitude from the front office, ownership, and the coach’s desk. Most of those challenges are gone now.

These failures led to a season in 2021 that would be most charitably described as “forgettable” or “a nightmare to experience” or “my eyes, oh god, my eyes they burn.”

But this season is a little different. This season there are tiny sprouts of hope emerging from the ash-strewn earth. They are signs of future superstar talent emerging from the depths, signs of competence long absent from Kirby Drive.

They are signs of hope.

And while watching the first preseason game of the year is a bit like eating rice cakes covered in marmite in terms of flavor, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any nutritional value to it either. This will be our first chance to really watch these new seedlings show us what they might be able to accomplish; even if they do it for one or two plays in today’s game.

So join us as we wait to see the Texans start it up again. Join us as we wait to hear what new, stupid phrases we’ll get out of Spencer Tillman. Join us as we shoot the [kitten] about the Texans waiting for their game against the Saints; or as it’s called in my household (because my wife is a Saints fan): The Civil War.

Enjoy the game, y’all.