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NFL Kickoff Weekend: Opening-Week Winning Stats for Texas Teams

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Tony Maples Photography

 

The drive to a Super Bowl championship and ring begins with Week 1, and that is now upon us. NFL Kickoff Weekend happens this Sunday, and although the New England Patriots hosted the Kansas City Chiefs for the season opener on Thursday night (42-27 in favor of the Chiefs), fans across the U.S. are eagerly awaiting their team’s Week One win on September 10, 2017.

NFL Kickoff Weekend: Opening-Week Winning Stats for Texas Teams

Photo: Facebook/Houston Texans

This Sunday sees the Houston Texans pitted against the Jacksonville Jaguars, for a 12 p.m. game time. Switching to a 16-game regular season in 1978, NFL teams that were victors in their season openers have statistically been twice as likely to make the playoffs than their losing counterparts. And in the 2016 football season, nine of the 12 teams that won division titles were winners on Kickoff Weekend – that’s a whopping 75 percent! Can the Texans pull off a Sunday win? This year marks their 16th season in the NFL. Last year they clinched the AFC South championship, swept the Indianapolis Colts, and their defense was ranked number one in the league (despite a season-ending injury to star defensive end J.J. Watt.) But, if their six for seven wins in home openers are any indication, this could be a great year for football fans in Texas.

NFL Kickoff Weekend: Opening-Week Winning Stats for Texas Teams

Photo: Facebook/Dallas Cowboys

History has also shown that six NFL teams in the past decade alone have made up 37 playoff berths and nine Super Bowl showings based on being strong out of the gate and outperforming their opponents in the first month of the season. Having a minimum winning percentage of .600, these six have also racked up five Super Bowl wins in that time frame. The Patriots (.758), the Broncos (.706), the Cowboys (.676), the Packers (.676), the Ravens (.647), and the Cardinals (.618) all set the bar high in percentage wins through Kickoff Weekend and the first official month of play. The Dallas Cowboys host the New York Giants during NFL Kickoff Weekend on Sunday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. Central. Meeting for the fourth time within the last five seasons for opening weekend, these NFC East rivals are geared up for gridiron as two of the NFL’s most successful teams in their respective season openers. The Giants hold third place for Kickoff Weekend wins (at 50), while the Cowboys’ winning percentage of .661 (37-19-1) is currently tied with the Broncos for highest in NFL history. Having 32 wins in home openers since 1970, they rank highest in the NFC.

NFL Kickoff Weekend: Opening-Week Winning Stats for Texas Teams

Photo: Flickr/U.S. Department of Agriculture

With sixteen games on the schedule in week one, one of which was played Thursday, 14 being played Sunday, and one delayed (Buccaneers at Dolphins, due to Hurricane Irma), America will be sitting in a stadium or stuck to their T.V. screens as NFL Kickoff Weekend goes full bore. Fans will have hedged their bets, and true fans will stick with their teams through thick and thin. The 2017 season will see some records set and broken, interceptions, touchdowns, and injuries that will make or break franchises, and win/loss records that sports analysts will pour over for months to come. Get your snacks, beer, and easy chair set up for weekends of great football fun to come, and enjoy NFL Kickoff Weekend. May the coin toss ever be in your team’s favor.