September 8, 2002: The NFL Is Restored to Houston

Marcus Coleman

September 8, 2002: After 5 seasons without a team, Houston returns to the NFL. The expansion Houston Texans open their 1st regular season in ideal fashion, beating the other Texas team, the Dallas Cowboys, 19-10 at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

The game was tied after 3 quarters, but with 13:15 to go, David Carr threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Corey Bradford. With 2:47 to go, Cowboy quarterback Quincy Carter was sacked in the end zone for a safety.

Bum Phillips, who had coached the previous Houston team, the Oilers, liked to say of the Cowboys' claim that they were "America's Team," that the Oilers were Texas' team. It was never true, but pretty much everybody who hadn't bought into the Cowboys' myth was rooting for the Texans.

They lost their next 5 games, before beating the Philadelphia Eagles, and finished 4-12 -- about average for a 1st-year expansion team. Since 2007, they've usually been .500 or better. They've won the AFC South Division in 2011, '12, '15, '16, '18 and '19. But, through the 2021 season, they've never reached the AFC Championship Game -- meaning that neither Texas team has reached a Conference Championship Game since the Cowboys did it in the 1995 season.

This introduction of the Texans, the NFL's 32nd franchise, forced the League's new alignment, with 4 Divisions of 4 teams each in each Conference, and a better geographic setup. East and West Divisions were kept, but the Central Divisions were replaced by North and South Divisions. Geographically, the only team that was still in a Division that didn't make sense was the Cowboys, still in the East, but the other 3 teams -- New York, Philadelphia and Washington -- didn't want to give up their rivalries. Otherwise, it would have put Dallas in the new NFC South, with Atlanta, New Orleans and Tampa Bay, and the relatively new Carolina franchise in the East.

UPDATE: The Texans have a Ring of Honor. They have inducted founding owners Bob and Janice McNair, receiver Andre Johnson, and defensive end J.J. Watt. Johnson is, thus far, the only Texans figure inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

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September 8, 2002 was a Sunday. Actor Gaten Matarazzo was born.

These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 37-31 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Arizona Cardinals, 31-23 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the Baltimore Ravens, 10-7 at Ericsson Stadium (now Bank of America Stadium) in Charlotte.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 28-25 at Alltel Stadium (now Everbank Stadium) in Jacksonville, Florida.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 26-20 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Detroit Lions, 49-21 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Tennessee Titans beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-24 at The Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cleveland Browns, 40-39 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field).

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 34-6 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 27-23 at Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign. The Bears played their 2002 home games there after the demolition of the original Soldier Field, while waiting for the construction of the new one on the same site.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 37-34 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Denver Broncos beat the St. Louis Rams, 23-16 at Invesco Field at Mile High (now Empower Stadium at Mile High) in Denver.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Seattle Seahawks, 31-17 at the Network Associates Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known).

* The preceding Thursday night, the New York Giants lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 16-13 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the New England Patriots opened their new home, Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts, and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30-14, in a rematch of the previous season's AFC Championship Game.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Yankee Stadium. Roger Clemens started, and Mike Stanton won in relief. Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and Rondell White hit home runs.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. John Thomson was the winning pitcher. Vance Wilson and Ty Wigginton hit home runs.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-4 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-0 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Bartolo Colón pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and Joey Eischen and Dan Smith finished a 5-hit shutout, to outpitch Tom Glavine.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-6 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Barry Zito pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Jim Mecir and Ricardo Rincón finished the 3-hit shutout.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 16-9 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. This was a wild one. The Royals led 3-1 after 6 innings, the Mariners led 6-3 going to the bottom of the 8th, then they led 8-5 going to the bottom of the 9th, and the Royals sent it to extra innings.

Scoring 8 runs in an extra inning is rare, but the M's did that in the top of the 11th, including home runs by John Olerud, Ben Davis and Mike Cameron. The Royals pulled only 1 back in the bottom of the 11th. Davis, a backup catcher, didn't even start the game, and went 2-for-3 with 4 RBIs. Olerud went 2-for-6 with 5 RBIs.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies, 9-4 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1 at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Barry Bond hit his 609th home run *.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to West London, and played Chelsea to a draw, 1-1 at Stamford Bridge.