The 2023 preseason starts in Foxborough Thursday night at 6pm (ABC-13, SportsRadio 610, The Bull 100.3 FM)
It always seems personal to me when the Texans go to New England. Because it IS!
'The House that Brady Built' has been a house of horrors for the Texans, who have never won there. Brady is long gone and, yes, we're 'just' in the preseason but I'd like all levels on the depth chart to be firing on the way to an August organizational triumph.
I called my very first football game a few miles away from the stadium, at Foxborough High School.
Yes, I used to live in Boston. I went to college at Boston University, home of Nickerson Field, which used to be Braves Field. Babe Ruth played World Series games there. Several guys who played on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team resided in my dorm, a couple of years before my arrival.
Anyway, don't confuse me having lived there with having any sort of long-lost feeling about the Patriots. These are the ultimate out-of-division Texans enemies. Two playoff losses up there and zero wins in the regular season.
That's why some success on Thursday night will be so sweet. Not regular-season-sweet. Preseason-sweet is a nice cookie compared to the regular season molten chocolate sundae sweetness of victory. But I'll take it for now.
Foxborough is the worst road trip in the league. It's strategically located between Boston and Providence, where no one wants to visit. Paul Revere didn't even want to ride there.
Back in the day, there was a harness racing track next to the stadium. The parking lots were all dirt and mud and made Day 3 of Woodstock look like a banquet at River Oaks.
Robert Kraft has certainly improved the place with retail, restaurants, etc. How could he not? He had the greatest quarterback in NFL history there for two decades, making Super Bowl runs look like grocery store runs.
Now they have Mac Jones and Baily Zappe who, once upon a time, went to Houston Chrisitan, formerly Houston Baptist.
Is everybody following along?
Anyway, everyone asks if the sea food is really that good in Boston. Of course it is. Seafood in New England is like barbeque here. There's so much competition so you better not screw it up.
Speaking of competition, we'll see how DeMeco Ryans divies up the playing time. There's no doubt that no matter who is in the game, Texans preseason tilts are must-see TV (and Radio!). Case Keenum might be playing in the fourth quarter? I'm in!
Let's hope for a healthy one. And a healthy win.
