subject: Houston Texans Tickets : The Texans Came Into The Game With Worst Record [print this page] The Houston Texans are a professional football team based in Houston, Texas, United States. The team is currently a member of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL).
The Texans joined the NFL in 2002 as an expansion team after Houston's previous franchise, the Houston Oilers, moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where they are now the Tennessee Titans. The team majority owner is Bob McNair. The Texans are the only existing team in the four major professional sports leagues that have yet to play in the postseason.
On September 6, 2000, the NFL's 32nd franchise was officially christened the Houston Texans before thousands at a downtown rally on Texas Avenue. Before unveiling the logo Bob McNair described the colors as "Deep Steel Blue", "Battle Red" and "Liberty White". The logo was an abstract depiction of a bull split in such a way to resemble the flag of Texas, including a lone star, the five points of which representing pride, courage, strength, tradition and independence.
A year later the Texans unveiled their uniforms during another downtown rally.The Texans' helmet is dark blue with the Texans bull logo. The uniform design consists of red trim and either dark blue or white jerseys. The team wears white pants with its blue jerseys, blue pants with its white jerseys.
Starting with the 2006 season, the Texans wear all-white for their home opener and the team began to wear an all-blue combination for home games vs. the Indianapolis Colts. In 2003, the Texans introduced an alternative red jersey (most of the time worn in divisional game against the Jacksonville Jaguars) with blue trim.
In 2007 the Texans introduced red pants for the first time, pairing them with the red jerseys for an all-red look. In October 2008 the Texans paired blue socks (instead of the traditional red) with their blue pants and white jerseys. Their uniforms are made by Reebok.In 2002 the team wore a patch commemorating their inaugural season.
Like many other NFL teams located in subtropical climates, the Texans traditionally wear their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season forcing opponents to wear their dark ones during the hot autumns in Houston. The team will still wear white jerseys during those early regular season games even though the retractable roof of the club's home field, Reliant Stadium, may be closed. In the preseason, the Texans wear white at home.
The name "Houston Oilers" was unavailable to the expansion team, as that name was still owned by the Tennessee Titans, whose owner Bud Adams had retired the name from use in 1999.
On March 2, 2000, Houston NFL 2002 announced that the team name search had been narrowed down to six choices: Apollos, Bobcats, Stallions, Texans, Toros and Wildcatters.
The list of names was determined after several months of research conducted jointly by Houston NFL 2002 and NFL Properties. An online survey regarding the name generated more than 65,000 responses in just seven days. In April the list of six names was narrowed down to three: Apollos, Stallions and Texans.
The name which was chosen, the "Houston Texans," had previously been the name of a defunct World Football League franchise, which moved to Louisiana to become the Shreveport Steamer. The nickname "Texans" was also used by the precursor of the NFL's present-day Kansas City Chiefs, the Dallas Texans. Owner Bob McNair did have to make a deal with Chiefs' owner Lamar Hunt to use the Texans nickname for his new team.
The Texans continued to see improvement in 2009. Despite losing their opening game against the New York Jets, the Texans went 5-3 through the first half of the season including a victory over division rival the Tennessee Titans in week 2. However this would prove to be their only division win of the season.
The Texans suffered close losses in the next 4 games before closing out with 4 consecutive wins. Their final game, a come from behind victory over the New England Patriots would cap off the Texans' first ever winning season at 9-7, and keep faint hopes alive in Houston for a chance to make the playoffs for the first time in the short history of the franchise. However those hopes were short lived, with the Jets edging them out of the wild card spot with their victory against the Cincinnati Bengals later that night.
The Texans 9-7 record tied both AFC wild card winners, the Jets and Baltimore Ravens, but the Jets and Ravens received precedence due to their superior records in conference games (both 7-5 versus Texans 6-6), leaving the Texans out of the postseason.
2009 was a record breaking season for quarterback Matt Schaub, finishing with 4,770 passing yards, the 6th most in a single season in NFL history, and a career high season passer rating of 98.6. On the other side of the ball, wide receiver Andre Johnson had another extraordinary season with 1,569 receiving yards over 101 receptions.
Following the 2009 season, the Texans re-signed head coach Gary Kubiak to a contract extension leading through the 2012 season. On September 7, 2010, the Texans signed QB Matt Leinart to a one-year deal, two days after he had been cut by the Arizona Cardinals.
