6 reasons you should watch Texans vs. Bengals on ‘Thursday Night Football’

Thursday Night Football games were not fun to watch last season. We were able to get a taste of the week ahead, but all it gave us were players on short rest, bad matchups, and a low-quality product.

We’re still going to see some of that this season. So instead of worrying about the game in its entirety, we’re going to point out things to look for in each matchup to help keep things interesting for you outside of fantasy implications.

Here’s what we’ve got this week:

The Texans haven’t been able to find a franchise quarterback since their inception in 2002. During the 2017 NFL draft, Bill O’Brien and the Texans decided to try their hand at trading up to No. 12 to draft Deshaun Watson. After the offense couldn’t move the ball with Tom Savage under center against the Jags in Week 1, Bill O’Brien — known to have a quick trigger — pulled Savage from the game for Watson, who was then named the starter for Week 2.

Watson had a decorated career at Clemson, bringing the Tigers their first national championship since 1981. However, he wasn’t as hyped up as Michtell Trubisky, who started just one full season at North Carolina. Jason Kirk wrote about how many college fans find it confusing that Watson wouldn’t be the first quarterback drafted (he wasn’t) because he was that damn good in college. Regardless, he makes a good case for Watson having the ability to be capable of being a good NFL quarterback.

So now we get to see Watson get his first career start against a Bengals team that got shut out against the Ravens in Week 1, 20-0. There’s no telling what Watson’s going to do, especially with a lingering ankle injury, but it’ll be nice to see the man who could possibly become the franchise quarterback the team has been feenin’ for.

Color Rush uniforms were really the main draw of Thursday Night Football last season. Nobody wanted to watch the Jaguars-Titans game last year, but it was cool to see 11 containers of dijon mustard go up against 11 smurfs at once.

The Texans and Bengals don’t have the most flashy uniforms for Thursday’s game. However, at the very least, people with red/green colorblindness won’t have trouble viewing these.

The Texans are going with all navy blue uniforms, with red numbers and white trim.

The Bengals’ Color Rush uniforms are all white, with black lettering and stripes. You would imagine that they’d go with all black or all orange, but the white alternates have a nice, clean look.

Whoever loses this game will look good doing it. That’s all that really matters.

Remember John Ross? He became the new NFL Combine 40-yard dash king, snapping Chris Johnson’s record 4.24 seconds with a 4.22. He even did it while his calves were cramping up.

For those unfamilar with Ross, Brian Floyd described what Ross being on the field means in the simplest of terms:

He was the player that always had to be accounted for, then accounted for again. He was changing the looks of a defense and a game simply by being on the field. He’s that scary.

As of Wednesday, Ross was still questionable with a knee sprain he suffered in the preseason finale, but fully participated in practice on on Monday. If he plays, that could help the Bengals offense, which was poor in Week 1.

When the teams squared off in 2015, the Texans got the best of the Bengals 10-6. Dalton finished that game with just 197 yards passing, an interception, and four sacks.

After the game, J.J. Watt said of Andy Dalton, “Our goal was to come out here and make the Red Rifle look like a Red Ryder BB Gun.” Sweet burn dude!

To make things more corny, Andy Dalton was upset about the comments:

I’m disappointed in him. It’s the integrity of this game. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a really good player. There’s a lot of kids and lot of people that look up to him, and for him to make comments like that, he’s just showing that that’s acceptable to do that kind of stuff, to say that kind of stuff.

It’s disappointing for one of the best players in this league to come out and say something like that. That’s all I’m going to say about that. I think J.J.‘s a good player. But for him to be one of the best in this league and to show that integrity, it shows what he’s about, which is disappointing.

Dalton then basically retracted his upset rant by saying there was no feud between him and Watt. I wouldn’t be mad to see those sparks fly again — even if it is corny as hell.

The Bengals were the lone NFL team to get shut out in Week 1. Even the Colts — who were quarterbacked by Scott Tolzien and Jacoby Brissett — managed to get in the end zone at least once. Andy Dalton finished the game with 170 yards and four interceptions. It was just ugly.

The Texans have a good defense, and based on previous performances, this could also be a rough game for Dalton. But he may have a new weapon to use in Ross, which could help open things up for A.J. Green.

Defensively, the Bengals could benefit from playing against a rookie quarterback in Watson. It’s his first start, he’s inexperienced, and the Bengals have talent on that side of the ball. They can hope to take these bright spots and take advantage of them. Because it can’t get worse than last week... right?

Of nine regular season meetings between these teams, five have been one-score games. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve been great, but it’s more interesting than a 46-9 blowout.

Here’s to hoping everything goes right on Thursday, and we have a great game to start off Week 2 in the NFL.