Texans' 2009 preseason features MNF game

The Texans will welcome the Minnesota Vikings to Reliant Stadium for Monday Night Football on Aug. 31.

In the preseason schedule released by the NFL today, the Texans will host New Orleans and Minnesota at Reliant Stadium in weeks two and three. Houston will kick off the 2009 preseason with a trip to Kansas City and conclude it at Tampa Bay.

Houston's game with Minnesota on Monday, Aug. 31, will be televised nationally on ESPN at 7 p.m. CT. The Texans will host a nationally televised preseason game for the first time in team history. It will be the team's fourth nationally televised preseason game.

Houston opens the preseason traveling to Kansas City (Aug. 13-16). It will be the Texans' second trip to Kansas City and third meeting with the Chiefs in the preseason. The teams have split their previous preseason meetings, with both teams winning on their home field. The Texans' lone trip to Kansas City was in 2002.

The following week (Aug. 20-23), the Texans host New Orleans for a preseason game for the first time in team history. The Texans own a 2-0 preseason record against the Saints, earning the first preseason victory in franchise history in 2002, then winning 31-27 last season.

{QUOTE}Houston and Minnesota meet for the first time in preseason on Aug. 31 in the Texans' third nationally televised preseason contest in four years under head coach Gary Kubiak. Houston will host ESPN's Monday Night Football crew for the second consecutive season. The Texans defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 30-17 on Monday, Dec. 1, 2008.

The Vikings provide perhaps the Texans' most interesting matchup this preseason, partly because of the national stage and partly because the team recently traded former backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels to the Vikings in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Starters often receive the most playing time in the third preseason game, so fans should anticipate seeing plenty of Rosenfels facing off against his former teammates.

"It will be a great test for our defense," linebacker Kevin Bentley said. "We have a new d-coordinator and we are changing some things on defense. We get to face a good running attack. They have two good running backs in Adrian (Peterson) and Chester Taylor, and then they have Sage at quarterback, who I think is a darn good quarterback."

It will be the first time the Texans meet the Vikings since the 2008 regular season, when the Vikings won 28-21 in Minneapolis. In that game, Texans quarterback Matt Schaub suffered a knee injury as a result of two illegal hits from Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, who was later fined $50,000 by the NFL. Minnesota is expected to be one of the leading contenders for the NFC North title next season.

The Texans close out the 2009 preseason when they travel to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the only team the Texans have faced during preseason in every year of their eight-year history, on Friday, Sept. 4.

Specific dates, times and television participants of all preseason games will be released at a later date. The NFL will release the Texans' 2009 regular season schedule in April.

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Indicates nationally televised
-All games are broadcasted live on 100.3 KILT FM and SportsRadio 610 AM
-Spanish broadcasts on La Tremenda 1010 AM