Each year, the NFL comes up with a slogan for that particular season. This year, there was no slogan needed: "NFL 100" told the entire story. But, a few years ago, the NFL came up with "Football is Family." The thought was that the fans, players and coaches were part of one significantly large family that fostered a brotherhood-sisterhood unity that went beyond the game.
This week, though, the Texans and Chargers are taking the "Football is Family" slogan to a completely different level. How? Well, there's one father-son reunion and one battle of brothers on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn knows Texas well, having played his high school football at powerhouse Celina HS before he played his college ball at Texas Tech. He took over as Chargers head coach in 2017 after a long career in the NFL playing and coaching running backs. His son D'Anton Lynn followed in his father's footsteps as a star at Celina HS, but took his college talents out of state to Penn State. He became a 3x All-B1G defensive back and turned to coaching, like his father, when his career was over. For the first three years of his coaching career, D'Anton was on the same staff as his dad until 2018 when he moved to Houston to be an assistant defensive backs coach alongside Anthony Midget.
At his press conference this week, pops said that there would be no phone calls or texts this week, only a meet up after the game. It's the first time that the two have ever faced each other.
The same goes for the Watt brothers, J.J. and Derek.
The Texans and Chargers faced off in 2016 in Houston, but J.J., unfortunately, missed the game due to injury when his younger brother Derek was a rookie. Now, the Lynns won't directly face one another on the field, but there's a high probability that what started in a Pewaukee, WI backyard/basement carries over to the Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday. Derek won't play every play, but there's a distinct chance that he'll have to block his brother J.J. at some point on Sunday. Of course, J.J. will HAVE to destroy him, as decreed in the older/younger brother constitution. I'm sure there is one somewhere, right?
Either way, there will be a ton of emotions for those four family members leading up to this matchup, but when the ball is kicked off, that's all out the door, so let the best brother, father and/or son win.
