Our best predictions for the Texans first five games of 2022

Apr 07, 2022 at 10:00 AM

Deepi Sidhu

Texans Insider and Lead Writer

Predicting the Houston Texans schedule might be as tough as winning the lottery, but how hard can it be to guess the first five games of the 2022 regular season? After all, we know who and where the Texans will play. We just don't know WHEN.

Turns out, it's harder than it sounds. Check out our best guesses for Week 1 through 5 of the 2022 season:

Marc Vandermeer
Week 1: Home vs. Indianapolis
Week 2: At New York Giants
Week 3: Home vs. Washington
Week 4: At Las Vegas (Thursday Night Football)
Week 5: At Jacksonville

"Thirteen out of the 20 Texans openers have been at home, so I'm betting that holds. The Texans have opened against Indy at home twice before ('10, '11). The rest of the picks are like playing 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey' so I'll go with this line up. I'm betting the TNF game is on the road. We've been fortunate the last three true Thursday night games (2020 was Thanksgiving) have been at home. I like my prediction of a home and road division game in the first five outings."

John Harris
Week 1: Home vs. Indianapolis
Week 2: At New York Giants
Week 3: At Chicago
Week 4: Home vs. Cleveland
Week 5: At Dallas

"This is just a shot in the dark, honestly, so there's no rhyme or reason to it, other than it's about time to face Indy at home to start the season (2010, 2011 algorithm). We've never played Dallas later than week six so I'm staying with that thread of consistency. Other than that, I'm just guessing."

Drew Dougherty
Week 1: At Chicago
Week 2: Home vs. Cleveland
Week 3: Home vs. Philadelphia (Thursday Night Football)
Week 4: At Dallas
Week 5: At Jacksonville

"Copy the schedule above, turn it in, and you'll win the prize. For sure.

Actually, don't do that. Predicting the Texans schedule is a fool's errand.

Aside from the Week 4 game, I think Houston will have Noon kickoffs, and the early dose of contests knocks three of the NFC opponents off the slate in the early going. To counter-balance Marc Vandermeer's point about the Texans opening at home in 13 of 20 contests, I'll say the league tries to balance things out and puts them on the road to start.

The home-opener is the Browns, followed by the Thursday-nighter with the Eagles. Then, the tussle with the folks up I-45 from us, and the Jaguars on the road after that."

Deepi Sidhu
Week 1: At Chicago
Week 2: Home vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Week 3: At Dallas (Thursday Night Football)
Week 4: Home vs. Jacksonville
Week 5: At New York Giants

"I predict a Lovie-Smith-returns-to-Chicago storyline for the 2022 Week 1 opener. After that, the revenge tour continues with a home game against the Chargers. Mainly because Pep Hamilton will call plays against his former team and the Chargers will likely want a chance to redeem themselves after their 41-29 loss at NRG Stadium last December. The league likes to give Houston an early Thursday Night game and I'd love for it to be a short trip to Dallas for a primetime matchup with the Cowboys in Week 3. Since we need at least one AFC South matchup in the first month, the Jaguars will be next in Week4. After all, these two teams generally do face each other in the first five weeks of action. Last year, the Texans opened up at home against Jacksonville, the year before they hosted the Jags in Week 5 and in 2019, the two teams faced off in Week 2 at NRG Stadium. Finally, I'll put an away game against the Giants in Week 5 for absolutely no reason at all because we all know the NFL schedule really is a complete guessing game."

The NFL 2022 schedule release takes place next month and the Texans and Caesars Rewards launched a fan contest, complete with prizes. Click here to make your predictions.

Predict the first five weeks of the Texans 2022 season schedule for your chance to win one of three prizes:

Prize #1

One (1) Vegas vacation including a 3-night hotel stay at a Caesars Rewards destination in Las Vegas
$500 resort credit
$400 credit for transportation/airfare
Two (2) season tickets to the 2022 Season

Prize #2