Houston Texans

The Houston Texans is a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Texans joined the NFL as a 2002 expansion team. The city's previous franchise, the Houston Oilers, moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1997, changing their name to the Tennessee Titans in 1999.

AFL/NFL in Houston: 1960–1996
Professional Football in Houston dates back to 1960 when oilman Bud Adams founded the Houston Oilers, a charter member of the American Football League. The Oilers appeared in the first three AFL championships, winning the first two before falling in double overtime to the Dallas Texans in 1962. The Oilers became the first professional football team to play in a domed stadium, when they moved into Houston's Astrodome for the 1968 season. The Oilers had success in the late 1970s (known as the "Luv Ya Blue era") with running back Earl Campbell and head coach Bum Phillips. They advanced to the AFC Championship game in 1978 and 1979, but lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers both times. They found success again in the late 1980s and early 1990s with quarterback Warren Moon, making the playoffs seven consecutive seasons, yet never advancing past the second round. This string of playoff futility included infamously coughing up a 32-point second half lead to the Buffalo Bills in 1992. The Oilers drafted Steve McNair in 1995 and Eddie George in 1996, but fans in Houston were forced to watch them play most of their careers in another city.
Adams alienated many fans in Houston with his questionable decisions, including firing the extremely popular Bum Phillips and threatening to move the team to Jacksonville, Florida if improvements were not made to the Astrodome in 1987. The city agreed to pay $67 million in renovations which included the removal of the iconic center field scoreboard. When the city refused to help finance a new stadium just a few years later, he moved the franchise to Tennessee for the 1997 season. After playing two seasons as the Tennessee Oilers, they were renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999. The city of Houston is still paying back the debt from the renovations they made to the Astrodome in 1987.

1997
In the first part of 1997, football was on the back burner of Bob McNair's mind, as he attempted to bring a National Hockey League team to Houston. In June 1997, the NHL owners turned down his efforts to bring an expansion hockey team to Houston, stating, among other reasons, that the Compaq Center was not an adequate facility for an expansion hockey team. McNair’s only option now would be to buy an existing franchise and move it. They began exploring options with the Edmonton Oilers, a once-proud franchise that had hit hard times economically.
Barely two weeks later, the fourth-largest city in the United States found itself without professional football for the first time since 1959 as Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams got the final approval to move his team to Tennessee. A lawsuit filed by the city of Houston, Harris County, and other parties was settled with Adams paying millions of dollars for leaving town. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, local entrepreneur and San Diego Padres owner John J. Moores, whose name was often attached to efforts to return the NFL to Houston, said that the city’s football fans would be in for a long, dry spell without football and that he did not foresee another league expansion in the next 10 years. While efforts to get an NHL team in Houston faltered, McNair made his decision to set his sights higher and founded Houston NFL Holdings. Steve Patterson, who had been working with McNair in an attempt to bring NHL to Houston, was immediately named as head of the new organization.
Now committed to the task at hand, McNair and Houston got an immediate morale boost in October 1997, when the NFL Stadium Committee reported to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on the current attractiveness of Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Houston. Cleveland had lost the Browns in 1995 and had been promised by Tagliabue that the next expansion team would play there, bringing the league total to 31 teams. A future expansion to 32 teams seemed both logical and destined to happen, and Tagliabue praised McNair’s strong initial efforts. Encouraged by the commissioner’s strong words, local support for a return of the NFL to Houston spread like wildfire across the city. Two days later, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLS&R) officials announced they would push for a domed stadium as part of the bid to lure the NFL back to Houston.

1998
In March 1998, McNair and company got more good news when the league made it official that Cleveland would receive an expansion franchise, making it the 31st team in the NFL. Houstonians had been concerned that the league would allow an existing franchise to move to Cleveland, thus keeping the number of teams at 30 and dealing a serious blow to Houston’s hopes of securing the next expansion franchise. Tagliabue said that the league would likely add a 32nd team in the next two years in either Houston, Los Angeles, or Toronto. The mention of Los Angeles worried plenty of Houston officials. Television money had become such a huge part of the NFL that it seemed unlikely the owners would pass up the chance to re-introduce professional football to the second-biggest TV market in the country. In early May, those fears became reality as entertainment guru Michael Ovitz announced he would lead a largely privately financed $750 million project to build a stadium in Carson, California.
In late October 1998, Tagliabue announced that the NFL owners would have a decision by April 1999 as to which city would be awarded the NFL expansion franchise. Both Bob McNair and Ovitz stated they needed to know the situation by the first quarter of the new year, lest they lose public support as a result of long delays while the league developed. Ovitz now had competition coming from his own city, however, as real estate developer Ed Roski threw his hat into the ring to bring another team to Los Angeles. Roski’s proposal centered around putting a 68,000-seat stadium inside the shell of the Los Angeles Coliseum.

1999
On March 16, 1999, the NFL owners, by a 29-2 vote, approved a resolution to award L.A. the expansion franchise if the city could put together an acceptable ownership team and stadium deal by September 15. If the parties could not reach or be very near reaching an agreement, it was decided that the committee would turn its recommendation to Houston. A month later, NFL executives flew to Los Angeles to see how things had progressed. They found that neither group had relented to the other, that the city was not allowing tax dollars to be used for a new stadium, and that neither group was prepared to build the kind of state-of-the-art facility that Houston had been guaranteeing for more than six months.
When the NFL officers returned to Los Angeles in late May, Ovitz had changed his tune, unveiling plans to turn the area around the Coliseum into a 60-acre complex of parks, parking garages, shopping areas and a brand-new stadium. Tagliabue and the NFL officials were pleased with the look, but daunted by the cost, including $225 million for parking garages that was not available from either the city or the state. In June Tagliabue expressed his frustration with Los Angeles’ inability to get a plan together and advised McNair to resume his discussions with the expansion committee.
On September 9, 1999, the league’s expansion committee indicated that McNair and other Houston officials should be prepared to attend an October 6 meeting of the NFL owners in Atlanta. L.A.’s effort was not completely dead, as Ovitz, Roski, and newcomer Marvin Davis all scrambled to find the right deal to woo the league back in the last six days before the deadline. In the first week of October, Ovitz announced that his group was prepared to offer $540 million for the NFL franchise. Later that week, McNair’s Houston NFL Holdings proposed a bid of $700 million to the owners.
On the morning of October 6, 1999, in Atlanta, the NFL owners voted 29-0 to award the 32nd franchise and the 2004 Super Bowl to Houston.

2000
After that, things moved fast for the yet-to-be-named football team. Focus groups were formed across the state to determine the image and direction for the franchise. NFL Properties and team officials began working on the identity, name and logo and the front office began to take shape with the hiring of former Washington Redskins General Manager Charley Casserly as Executive Vice President/General Manager in January of 2000.
That spring, Houston NFL 2002 celebrated the official groundbreaking of Reliant Stadium. The 69,500-seat state-of-the-art facility would become the NFL's first retractable-roof stadium.
After almost a year of speculation, the worst kept secret in Houston became reality as the team was officially christened the Houston Texans during a downtown celebration in September 2000 that included NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Bob McNair unveiling the new logo.

2001
On January 21, 2001, the Texans turned to the coaching staff and introduced Dom Capers as the club's first head coach. Capers had served the previous two seasons as the Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive coordinator. From 1995 to 1998, Capers was the head coach of the expansion Carolina Panthers. Capers would soon fill out the rest of the staff in the months to follow. After five long seasons, Houston was at last ready to rejoin the league.

2002-2005
The Texans launched their inaugural campaign on September 8, 2002 against the Dallas Cowboys at Reliant Stadium. Rookie David Carr hooked up with tight end Billy Miller on the third play from scrimmage for a touchdown and shocked their intra-state rivals 19-10, becoming just the second expansion team ever to win their first game. The Texans lost their next five games before winning for the first time on the road against the Jaguars, a team they would find success against in the seasons to come.
Victories over the New York Giants in Houston and the Steelers in Pittsburgh (despite just 46 total yards of offense – an NFL low for a winning team) and the Texans finished the season 4-12, sending two players (Gary Walker and Aaron Glenn) to the Pro Bowl, the most ever by an expansion team. The season was deemed a success despite David Carr being sacked an NFL record 76 times and the realization that Tony Boselli, the man they had hoped would protect their young quarterback, would never play a down of football for the team.
During the next two seasons, the Texans made steady progress. In 2003, they started out much as they had done in 2002 by shocking the heavily favored Dolphins in Miami to open the season. No other expansion team had ever won the season opener in each of its first two seasons. The Texans would only improve their record by one game in that season, but after a victory over the eventual NFC champion Carolina Panthers and a tough overtime loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, optimism was high going into 2004 that they could compete with any team in the league. That optimism soured, however, after the Texans started the ’04 season 0-3 and for the first time fans began to question the direction in which head coach Dom Capers and the front office were taking. No other expansion team had taken so long to win back-to-back games and expectations in the third season were growing. Finally, after their first victory of 2004 in Kansas City, the Texans came home and defeated the Oakland Raiders the following week to secure their first win streak in franchise history. After sweeping division rivals Tennessee and Jacksonville and another impressive pair of back-to-back wins late in the season, the Texans were poised to finish the year 8-8. All they had to do was beat the 3-12 Cleveland Browns at home. The Texans came out flat and unprepared, however, and fell to the Browns 22-14. The honeymoon for the Texans was officially over and for the first time David Carr heard boos from the stands. The game served as an omen of bad times ahead. On the bright side, second year receiver Andre Johnson was selected to his first Pro Bowl and as of 2007, it was the only season the Texans did not finish last in the AFC South.
Despite the disappointing end to the 2004 season and a troubling preseason, a playoff push by the Texans in 2005 still seemed likely. They got hammered by the Bills in Buffalo 22-7 to open the season and then humiliated by the Steelers at home 27-7 the following week. As the losses mounted, whatever optimism that was left over from the previous year faded away. Offensive Coordinator Chris Palmer was replaced before the third week and media and fans began to point to questionable personal decisions and lackluster draft picks by General Manager Charley Casserly and doubt about Dom Capers and David Carr’s ability to lead the team in the future began to surface. They started the season 0-6 before beating the Browns in Houston only to follow that up with another six game losing streak. By the end of the season most were calling for Dom Capers and Charley Casserly to be fired and a growing majority began to include David Carr on that list as well. Conspiracy theories that the Texans were tanking games to secure the number one pick after several close losses late in the year culminated with the “Bush Bowl” in San Francisco during the last week of the season. The Texans and 49ers came into the game with the two worst records in the NFL and the loser would “win” the right to choose USC running back Reggie Bush in the 2006 NFL Draft. The Texans lost 20-17 and finished 2-14, the worst in the league. One bright spot was the sensational rookie season by kick returner Jerome Mathis who returned two kicks back for touchdowns, including one for 99-yards against Kansas City. Mathis was Houston's only player in 2005 to be selected to the Pro Bowl.
After finishing 2-14 in 2005 the Texans fired Dom Capers and most of his staff. General Manager Charley Casserly was spared, but would eventually leave after the draft, replaced by Rick Smith. Gary Kubiak, offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos, was hired to take over and the franchise headed into the most controversial off-season in team history. While most in the national media believed that the Texans drafting Reggie Bush in the 2006 Draft was a no-brainer, many in Houston began to voice their desire for the team to draft hometown hero Vince Young after his performance in leading the University of Texas to victory over Bush's USC team in the Rose Bowl, that year's NCAA National Championship Game.
In February, after a vote of confidence from Gary Kubiak, the Texans exercised an $8 million bonus option for David Carr, guaranteeing he would be a Texan in 2006. Still, the debate between Bush and Young raged on for months over local sports talk radio and internet message boards. While support for Vince Young was mounting, most still thought Reggie Bush would eventually be drafted by the Texans.
In a stunning turn of events, however, the Texans shocked the NFL world on the eve of the NFL Draft by announcing that North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams - not Reggie Bush or Vince Young - would be the team’s choice for their number one pick. Fans were angered and shocked, many booed the choice during a public draft party at Reliant Stadium and the Texans were ridiculed by the national media for committing what many believed was the worst mistake in NFL Draft history. Comparisons to Michael Jordan and Sam Bowie were immediately being made and the endless second-guessing began. Reggie Bush fell to the New Orleans Saints and Vince Young was taken by the Titans. By drafting Williams, the Texans addressed their greatest need, yet it would turn out to be a public relations nightmare that would haunt them for much of the 2006 season. By the end of the year Bush and the Saints were on their way to the NFC Championship game and Young had won the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Mario Williams finished with 4.5 sacks and 47 tackles despite suffering from plantar fasciitis for the entire season.

2006
On September 10, 2006, native Houstonian Gary Kubiak made his head coaching debut as he led the Texans against the Philadelphia Eagles at Reliant Stadium. Despite taking the first drive down the field for a touchdown, the game resulted in a disappointing 24-10 loss. They lost the next two in embarrassing fashion before awarding Kubiak his first career victory with a win over the Miami Dolphins in week four. After a loss to Dallas, two of the next four games would be against division rival Jacksonville – and Houston beat them both times. As unexplainable as the Texans’ continued ability to beat the Jaguars, so too was a game against the Titans where they out-gained Tennessee in total yards 427 to 197 but lost because of five turnovers. David Carr suffered one of his worst performances of his career before being pulled in favor of backup Sage Rosenfels. Another strange game had the Texans finishing with negative five yards passing, yet winning a game against the Oakland Raiders.
The Texans went on to suffer two heart-breaking losses in the second half of the season, first allowing the Buffalo Bills to score a go-ahead touchdown with just nine seconds remaining and then three weeks later against the Tennessee Titans and Vince Young. Playing in his hometown of Houston for the first time as a professional, Young ran 39 yards for the winning touchdown in overtime. To make matters worse for the Texans, some fans, who thought Houston made a mistake by not drafting him, showed up wearing Vince Young jerseys and cheered as he scored in overtime.
A week later, the emotionally exhausted Texans showed up in Foxborough to face the New England Patriots and were hammered 40-7 as David Carr turned in another poor performance, throwing four interceptions. The Texans made the most of their two remaining games, snapping a nine game losing streak to the Colts by stunning the eventual Super Bowl Champions 27-24 and then finishing the season by beating the Browns in Houston, their first back-to-back wins in two years. The Texans finished with 6 wins in 2006, four more than the previous year. Andre Johnson led the league in receptions with 103 and was selected to his second Pro Bowl. The Texans got contributions from all seven of their 2006 draft picks, including DE Mario Williams, TE Owen Daniels and LB DeMeco Ryans - a second round pick who was selected as the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.

2007
Most of the speculation in Houston following the 2006 season involved David Carr and his future with the Texans. On March 21, reports surfaced that backup Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Schaub would be traded to the Texans. The Texans and Falcons swapped first round picks and the Texans gave Atlanta their second round pick in 2007 and 2008. Upon his introduction in Houston on March 22, Schaub was announced as the starting quarterback in 2007. Despite reports that the Texans were attempting to trade David Carr, he was released the following day. On April 6, 2007 David Carr joined the Carolina Panthers as the backup quarterback for Jake Delhomme. Carr would eventually become the starter after an injury to Delhomme ended his season, only to be injured himself and replaced by 44 year old Vinny Testaverde. Carr would have his chances to win the starting role back after an injury sidelined Testaverde, but would eventually be replaced again, this time due to poor play. Carr was 1-4 in 2007 as a starter and finished the season as the Panther's third string quarterback behind Testaverde and undrafted rookie Matt Moore. James Black, NFL Editor for Yahoo! Sports, wrote that "Tim Couch might be the one person preventing us from deeming David Carr as the worst overall No. 1 draft choice among quarterbacks since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970."
For Matt Schaub and the Texans, the 2007 season started on a high note. They extended their franchise record two-game winning streak from the end of 2006 to four with victories at home against the Chiefs and on the road in Carolina. After the 2-0 start, however, the Texans would be plagued with injuries (leading the league with players on Injured Reserve) and turnovers (finishing with a -13 turnover ratio). Andre Johnson missed seven games, Matt Schaub missed five and was knocked out of two others, Dunta Robinson was lost for the season after a leg injury in a Week 9 game against Oakland, starting Center Steve McKinney suffered a season-ending injury in the third game of the season, and Ahman Green, who was signed in the offseason to a large contract, rushed for only 260 yards, missed several games and finished the season on IR. Despite all of this, the Texans would have their best season in franchise history, finishing with a .500 record for the first time, including going 6-2 at home and setting several team and individual records. The Texans had their best offense, setting team highs in points, average yards per play, total touchdowns, passing touchdowns, total yards and passing yards. Andre Johnson finished with a career and franchise high 8 touchdowns. Mario Williams set a franchise record with 14 sacks, finishing first in the AFC and tied for third in the league and DeMeco Ryans was selected as a starter in his first Pro Bowl. The Texans posted a 7-3 record outside of their division but only managed one win is six tries within the AFC South. The AFC South was considered the toughest division in the NFL as no team finished below .500 and the Texans were the only team to not make the playoffs. The Texans finished last in the AFC South for the third straight year and for the fifth time in their six seasons in the league.

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