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More Schedule Release CoveragePHOTOS: Texans 2014 road stadiumsREAD: Texans reunion gamesREAD: Top five most intriguing playersREAD: Texans to square off against CowboysREAD: Schedule by the numbers Vandermeer's View: Tougher schedule than you thinkHOUSTON** – The Houston Texans 2014 regular season schedule features back-to-back primetime games in Week 6 and 7 and three home games against teams that made the playoffs in 2013: Thursday night, Oct. 9 against the AFC South rival Indianapolis Colts, Nov. 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles and Nov. 23 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Houston will also play the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road on ESPN's Monday Night Football on Oct. 20.

Bill O'Brien begins his tenure as Houston Texans head coach with a season-opening matchup at home against Washington at noon on Sunday, Sept. 7. It marks the third time in team history and first time since 2006 that the Texans will open the season against an NFC team. The Texans are tied with the Chicago Bears for the second-longest active winning streak in season openers at four and are 7-5 all-time in the first game of the season.

Road games against the Oakland Raiders on Sept. 14 and the New York Giants on Sept. 21 follow the Texans' opener. The Texans return home in Week 4 to play the Buffalo Bills at noon on Sunday, Sept. 28 before heading north in Week 5 to play the Dallas Cowboys in another noon matchup on Oct. 5.

Houston debuts on CBS' new Thursday night lineup at home against Indianapolis with a 7:25 p.m. kickoff on Oct. 9. The Texans then head to Pittsburgh for their Monday night tilt on Oct. 20 against the Steelers. It marks the third time in franchise history the team will play back-to-back primetime games, also doing so in 2010 and 2012.

An Oct. 26 matchup in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans and Nov. 2 home game against the Philadelphia Eagles precede the Texans' open date on Nov. 9. The Texans return from their bye week on Nov. 16 to play Cleveland on the road for the first time since a 16-6 win against the Browns in 2008. On Nov. 23, the Texans will play host to the Cincinnati Bengals in a regular season contest for the first time since 35-6 win on Oct. 26, 2008. Houston defeated Cincinnati at home in the AFC Wild Card playoff in 2011 and 2012 and haven't lost to the Bengals at home since Nov. 3, 2002.

Four of the last five games of the regular season are against AFC South foes, beginning with a visit from Tennessee on Nov. 30. The Texans head to the road the next two weeks, playing the Jacksonville Jaguars on Dec. 7 and at Indianapolis on Dec. 14. Houston closes the season with a pair of home games for the first time since 2006, against the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 21 and Jaguars on Dec. 28. 

HOUSTON TEXANS 2014 SCHEDULE 

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Italic indicates games subject to flex scheduling. See the note below.

All kickoff times Central; # - Televised Nationally; Home Games in BOLDAll games are broadcasted live on Texans Radio on 610 AMand 100.3 The Bull

 FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING

• For the first time, flexible scheduling may be applied in Weeks 5-10. During that period, flexible scheduling can be used in no more than two weeks by shifting a Sunday afternoon game into primetime and moving the Sunday night game to an afternoon start time.
• Also, for the first time, a select number of games are being "cross-flexed," moving between CBS and FOX to bring potentially under-distributed games to wider audiences.
• "Flexible scheduling" will be used in Weeks 11-17 as it has been in recent years. In Weeks 11-16, the schedule lists the games tentatively set for Sunday Night Football on NBC. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to an afternoon start time. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to games airing on Thursday, Saturday or Monday nights. A flexible scheduling move would be announced at least 12 days before the game. For Week 17, the Sunday night game will be announced no later than six days prior to December 28. The schedule does not list a Sunday night game in Week 17, but an afternoon game with playoff implications will be moved to that time slot. Flexible scheduling ensures quality matchups in all Sunday time slots in those weeks and gives "surprise" teams a chance to play their way into primetime.

2014 HOUSTON TEXANS SCHEDULE NOTES

Prime Time/National TV Notes

• Houston plays two primetime games this season. The Texans have played 19 primetime games in team history and are 6-13 in those contests.
• Houston will play on ESPN's Monday Night Football once this season: at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 20.  The Texans are 3-4 on Monday Night Football in team history.
• The Texans are 1-3 on Thursday Night Football and 2-3 overall when playing on Thursday.

Also Noteworthy

• Houston will face two of the top 10 scoring defenses from 2013: Cincinnati (tied for fifth, 19.1 points per game) and Indianapolis (ninth, 21.0).
• The Texans also face three of the top 10 scoring offenses from 2013 in Philadelphia (fourth, 27.6 points per game), Dallas (fifth, 27.4) and Cincinnati (tied for sixth, 26.9).
• The Texans face several NFL individual leaders from 2013: top rusher Philadelphia RB LeSean McCoy (1,607 yards), passer rating leader Philadelphia QB Nick Foles (119.2), receptions leader Washington WR Pierre Garcon (113), yards receiving leader Cleveland WR Josh Gordon (1,646), tackler Cincinnati LB Vontaze Burfict (171), sack leader Indianapolis LB Robert Mathis (19.5 sacks) and punt return average leader Jacksonville WR Tandon Doss (15.6 with Baltimore).
• Houston will be looking for its first ever road wins at Dallas (0-1), New York Giants (0-1) and Indianapolis (0-12), its first win ever against Philadelphia (0-3) and first home win against Washington (0-1).
• The Texans will play four games against teams that made the playoffs in 2013, including two games against defending AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts (11-5). The Texans also face NFC East champion Philadelphia (10-6) and AFC North champion Cincinnati (11-5) at home.
• Houston will play five games against teams holding top-10 picks in the 2014 NFL Draft, including two against Jacksonville (third overall) and one game each against Cleveland (fourth), Oakland (fifth) and Buffalo (ninth).

• Houston plays four games against teams with new head coaches: two games against division rival Tennessee (Ken Whisenhunt), and one each against Cleveland (Mike Pettine) and Washington (Jay Gruden).
• Houston's season opener against Washington will also be Redskins' head coach Jay Gruden's head coaching debut. The Texans also opened the season against rookie head coaches Mike McCoy (at San Diego, 2013), Joe Philbin (Miami, 2012) and Rex Ryan (New York Jets, 2009).

Home and Away Notes

• Houston opens at home for the ninth time in 13 years. The Texans are 5-3 when opening the season at home.
• The Texans open and finish the season at home for the eighth time in team history. Houston opened and closed the season at home in 2002, 2004, 2006-07 and 2009-11.

AFC South Notes

• The Texans close the season against a divisional opponent for the eighth time in franchise history and the fifth year in a row.  Houston is 2-5 in season finales against AFC South opponents, including last year's 16-10 loss at Tennessee.
• Houston's cumulative record against division opponents is 26-46 all-time. The Texans are 13-11 against Jacksonville, 9-15 versus Tennessee and 4-20 against Indianapolis.
• The Texans are 8-4 against Jacksonville at home.
• Eight of the 12 road matchups against Jacksonville have been decided by a touchdown or less. Houston's five road wins against Jacksonville are the most in franchise history against a single opponent.
• Six of the last eight meetings between the Texans and Titans in Houston have been decided by a touchdown or less. The Texans are looking for three consecutive wins at home against the Titans for the first time ever.
• Houston closes the season against Jacksonville for the third time in team franchise history. The Texans closed out the 2007 season with a 42-28 win against the Jaguars and posted a 34-17 win against Jacksonville in the 2010 season finale.

AFC North Notes

• Houston will play every team in the AFC North for the fifth time in team history.  The Texans also faced the AFC North in 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011.
• Houston is 10-14 all-time against the AFC North.
• Houston will take on Baltimore in the regular season for the fifth consecutive season. The teams have met five times since 2010, including the 2011 AFC Divisional playoff.  

NFC East Notes

• The Texans will face all four NFC East teams in the first nine weeks of the season.
• The Texans own a 3-9 record all-time against the NFC East
• This marks the third time the Texans will open the season against an NFC East foe. Houston beat Dallas 19-10 in its first ever season opener in 2002 and lost to Philadelphia 24-10 in the 2006 opener.

Notes by the Numbers

• 0 - games vs. AFC South opponents in the month of September.
• 1 - Monday Night Football game (Week 7 at Steelers on ESPN)
• 2 - number of back-to-back homestands (Week 12 & 13 vs. Bengals and Titans, and Week 16 & 17 vs. Ravens and Jaguars).
• 3 - number of teams the Texans will face who made the playoffs in 2013 (Colts, Eagles and Bengals).
• 10 - number of games played in a retractable roof stadium. (8 at Reliant Stadium, 1 at Cowboys, 1 at Colts.
• 51- degrees (F) is average daily high temperature annually in Cleveland, Ohio on Nov. 16.
• 72 - degrees (F) is average daily high temperature annually in Oakland, Calif. on Sept. 14.
• 264 - miles it takes to drive from Reliant Stadium to the  game against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
• 3,256 - round trip flight miles for the Texans' longest road trip this season (at Oakland on Sept. 14).
• 2,798- round trip flight miles for the team's second-longest road trip of the season (at Giants on Sept. 21) the week after playing at Oakland.
• 15,526- the number of flight miles from Bush Intercontinental Airport to Khartoum, Sudan, and back.
• 15,554 - The flight miles the Texans will travel (round trip) over the course of the 2014 regular season.