Crystal Collins remembers the scene like it was yesterday. She didn’t know whether to laugh or be mad, and ultimately, there was a little more of the former. Collins, a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan who lives in Houston and works in the oil and gas industry, was returning to her office on a Tuesday in November 2018.
The previous day, she’d taken time off. The day before that, her Cowboys had come to Houston and lost to the Texans.
“I walked into my office and I didn’t recognize it,” she told me via telephone this week. “There was all kinds of Texans stuff, balloons everywhere, stickers and photos. Texans helmets had been put on each of my mini-statues. My work colleagues didn’t hold back.
“So, when people ask if there’s a rivalry between the Cowboys and the Texans, it’s not a typical one, because we’re in different conferences. But could there be something there? Absolutely.”
A true, booming, in-state Texas feud is one thing that the National Football League has never had, but given how things are going this year, could the seedlings of one be emerging?
Houston certainly hopes so.
Widely expected to be one of the very worst teams in the league before the start of the season, the Texans have been ignited by the quarterback play of No. 2 overall draft pick C.J. Stroud, who has been confident, composed, and unfazed in posting some splashy numbers while taking the team to 3-3.
Sunday’s clash with the winless and hapless Carolina Panthers (1:00 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app) offers a chance at a rare occurrence in recent Texans history — a record above .500. Excitement is growing, but football fandom in Houston is a complicated thing, namely because there are so many Cowboys supporters on every street, in every bar, and in every workplace. The first task is also the most challenging one: make the Texans the most popular NFL team in their own city.
“Until the Texans win a Super Bowl, Cowboy fans will always outnumber Texan fans in Houston,” Coty Davis, host of the Locked on Texans podcast told me. “I’m not too fond of it. But it’s understandable. It has always been hard for the franchise to grow its fan base due to the lack of success. You cannot build a strong fan base like the Cowboys, who have won six championships; generational love.”
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If a Texans surge is to come, it will probably need to be sparked by the impetus created by Stroud’s arrival. The Ohio State product’s high-level performances and ability to meet the moment has Houston situated as a popular floating underdog to upset the Jacksonville Jaguars and win the AFC South.
And, with the Cowboys only narrowly better at 4-2 heading into their Sunday clash with the Los Angeles Rams (1:00 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), Houston, under new head coach DeMeco Ryans, sniffs a chance to secure some regional bragging rights.
The general talk going into the Texans’ battle with the Panthers is of the matchup between Stroud and Carolina QB Bryce Young, pitting the top two picks in this year’s NFL Draft against each other.
Stroud and Young have known each other since childhood, practice together in the offseason and root for each other, but with the Panthers the only 0-6 team in the league, this isn’t one of those occasions where both teams have a lot on the line. But Houston does.
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Strangely enough, some Cowboys fans actually wouldn’t mind seeing the Texans start to thrive.
“I would actually welcome seeing the Texans do better and could be a fun way to spark up the rivalry,” Collins added. “It is hard to see it as a true rivalry because of the different divisions and we don’t play them very often, but it would be good for the city.
“Some Cowboys fans definitely enjoy the Texans being downtrodden and would be happy for that to continue, but there is so much passion for football in Texas that having two successful teams would give it another level.”
The Cowboys, no matter whether what is happening on the field is glorious or gory, are always one of the most talked-about teams in football. More often than not, it leaves the in-state neighbor in the shadow.
Get this, the Houston chapter of the Cowboys fan club (DCFH – Dallas Cowboys Fans Houston) has 17,000 members and hosts meetups for games with hundreds of people. There are even clubs within the club, like a motorcycle group.
Collins is president of DCFH and oversees an interesting mix. Many members of the chapter are proud Houstonians in every way except football. Collins’ favorite MLB team is the Astros, and she was disappointed when they bombed in Game 7 against the Texas Rangers, who play right next to the Cowboys in Arlington.
Podcast host Davis moved to Houston at age 10 and has such passion for all Houston sports that he’s still traumatized by the NBA’s Rockets losing in seven to the Mavericks in the 2005 NBA postseason. He gets to see the Houston/Dallas dynamic first-hand.
“Going into the season, everyone, including myself, thought the Texans would struggle,” he added. “But six games in, the Texans have revamped the love this city once had for, not just the Texans, but football in general.”
Stroud has a way about him that seems to inspire belief even at this painfully early stage where anything can still happen. The air of optimism in Houston is unmistakable, and the young man under center has a lot to do with it.
“We feel like we’re right in the division race, and we can do it, but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Stroud told reporters. “We went to keep that momentum rolling.”
Off the field, as well as on it.
