Football fans around the country are awaiting the official schedule release ahead of the 2024 National Football League season as 32 teams look to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy at year’s end. There are several intriguing storylines around the league that are worth consideration, including a young, dynamic Houston Texans team coming off of its first playoff berth since 2019. John McClain formerly covered the Texans for the Houston Chronicle and was honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the winner of the Dick McCann Memorial Award. Additionally, he was previously a radio host for Sports Radio 610 but was laid off by the Audacy-owned outlet earlier in the year.
McClain used to work with John Granato and Lance Zierlein on SportsRadio 610 earlier in his radio career. Granato moved to 1560 The Game when it launched in 2007 and remained with the outlet through its move to the FM dial and it being renamed ESPN 97.5 Houston. Zierlein joined the outlet in 2017 after a stint hosting in morning drive on SportsTalk 790 with Matt Thomas.
McClain appeared for the final two hours of Tuesday’s edition of John and Lance and discussed the Texans with his former co-host. Granato opined that the Texans visiting the Chiefs during the regular season could qualify as a potential Sunday Night Football matchup, a proposition that McClain does not believe will happen in the first week of the season.
“It’s got to be either [Joe] Burrow or [Jim] Harbaugh – one of the two,” McClain said of the first Sunday Night Football game. “The Texans [have] got to be really good another year and win some more in the playoffs to get a game like that. [The] Texans play so many good games that can be prime time games. I don’t know how you can even pick them.”
Led by quarterback and reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud, the Texans made several additions this offseason that has led several football analysts to project a potential AFC Championship and trip to the Super Bowl. The team acquired wide receiver Stefon Diggs and running back Joe Mixon in trades this offseason that has further energized the fanbase. Entering the 2023 regular season in which NBC Sports, ESPN and Amazon Prime Video all had flex scheduling abilities, the Texans were granted no games on prime-time television. Granato believes that will change for the upcoming season and predicts at least four games in the timeslot.
“Thursday night for sure against the Jags or a division game, maybe even Tennessee, and we’ll see what the uniform stuff and what not because Al Michaels always gets the crappiest division games, so you’re going to have at least that,” Granato said. “They’re going to be on Monday Night Football and they’re going to be on Sunday Night Football as well.”
McClain is hoping to see the Texans play the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day, even though he does not consider the holiday to constitute a prime-time game. Another possibility could be taking on the Buffalo Bills, who traded Diggs to the Texans during the offseason, along with the New York Jets and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“That schedule is so attractive to people nationally and locally, I think they’re going to take advantage of it,” McClain said, “but boy, it is brutal with a capital B.”
