On the way home from Charlotte, Cam Newton was still stuck in my head when I started to think ahead to Sunday's matchup with Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It struck me then that there weren't going to be many teams this year that would face Heisman winners in multiple weeks.
The Titans did it in the first two weeks as they faced Winston, then 2012 recipient Johnny Manziel the following week. That got me thinking how many former Heisman winners would the Texans face this season.
There are only ten former Heisman winners still in the NFL.
Charles Woodson, 1997
Carson Palmer, 2002
Reggie Bush, 2005
Sam Bradford, 2008
Mark Ingram, 2009
Cam Newton, 2010
Robert Griffin III, 2011
Johnny Manziel, 2012
Jameis Winston, 2013
Marcus Mariota, 2014
Of those, the Texans will face four of the last six winners a total of five times, as they'll face Mariota twice.
By my math, the Atlanta Falcons will have the most games against former Heisman winners as they'll face Ingram, Newton and Winston twice each. In addition, they faced Bradford in week one, will see RGIII in some capacity in week five, oppose Mariota in week seven and meet Bush in week nine.
In fact there are only three former winners they won't face, unless they meet the Cardinals in the playoffs and Carson Palmer.
The Falcons will play ten games against former Heisman winners, which is by far the most in the NFL. Not to mention, they'll have an eleventh game with a winner in the building when the Texans come to town as Andre Ware, the 1989 Heisman winner, will do color analysis on the radio broadcast.
