A winter cold blast is coming, but Lovie Smith is ready.
The Texans head coach met with the media during a Monday afternoon press conference at NRG Stadium. In addition to recapping Sunday's loss to the Chiefs and looking ahead to the Saturday road showdown with the Titans, Smith was asked about the Arctic cold front that will sweep across the nation later this week.
"I was expecting a lot of questions, but that wasn't one," Smith joked.
On weather.com, the high predicted for Saturday in Nashville is 23 degrees Fahrenheit, with a low of 10. No precipitation is in the forecast, but Smith explained that the Texans will be prepared.
"We do have a plan for it, yes," Smith said. "If the weather really turns bad later in the week, we feel pretty good about that."
The Texans haven't played a regular season game with freezing temperatures at kickoff since Week 13 at Green Bay in 2016. It snowed that afternoon against the Packers. Houston's last playoff game, in the Divisional Round of the 2019 playoffs at Kansas City, saw a kickoff temperature of 29 degrees.
The Texans have an indoor practice facility at the Houston Methodist Training Center. But don't expect Smith and company to use it.
"I would like for it to be as cold as possible this week and for us to practice in it would help a lot," Smith said.
Smith and the Texans will fly to Nashville on Friday afternoon and return to Houston early Saturday evening.
