Tonight, the Houston Texans will face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.
This season, quarterback C. J. Stroud threw for over 3,000 yards, Nico Collins racked up more than a 1,000 receiving and the team finished with an impressive 12-5 record.
All of this has made them the favorite heading into the game and also helped Texas Monthly’s Dan Solomon formulate a controversial opinion: The Texans, not the Cowboys, are America’s Team.
Solomon joined the Standard to defend his hot take. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: This is super controversial. In the article, you actually compare the Texans to the early United States and even to Alexander Hamilton. Why did you choose that framing?
Dan Solomon: Well, I mean, I think that there is something to be said for this team kind of emerging out of nothing.
You know, as an expansion team almost 25 years ago now they had to just build themselves out of nothing and hope for the best. And, you know, that is a story that kind of parallels the founding of America.
I think it’s a fun comparison. I also think there’s some truth to it.
Well, the Texans, as you mentioned, are a relatively new franchise. They don’t have any Super Bowls or very many Hall of Famers. Have you gotten pushback to this radical idea?
I got pushed back to this idea before we even published it. There are Cowboys fans on our staff who were very uncomfortable with this positioning here.
But, you know, we had some good conversations about it and I stand by it.
The Cowboys haven’t been dominant for a long time now. Do you have any theories as to how they’ve managed to hold onto that title of America’s Team for so long?
So the thing about the Cowboys is that within Texas and with a certain type of person outside of Texas, they’re wildly beloved. And then with another type of a person outside of Texas they’re absolutely reviled. And I think that that’s kind of unique.
There are haters for every team, especially when they’re dominant. You know, there are people who hate Kansas City right now. There are people who hated the Patriots during the Patriot’s run.
But people hate the Cowboys and love the Cowboys whether or not they’re good or bad. And I think that that positioning in the cultural conversation is what has kept them America’s Team.
And I think that if you’re a Cowboys fan, that hasn’t done you any favors. I don’t think that it’s brought them any closer to championships. You know, it means that they play primetime games that can be difficult sometimes for players to have to play on Thursdays and have shorter weeks sometimes.
So, you know, I don’t think it’s served them the way that the fans who love it think that has.
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Well, that in mind, is America’s Team a title that the Houston Texans should seek? It sounds like it comes with a lot of heartache, too.
It does. And, I mean, the idea of America’s Team is inherently pretty silly. The fans of the other 31 teams resent anybody who declares their team America’s Team.
And I understand why. I’m neither a Cowboys nor a Texans fan. I think that you now just sort of recognize what the Texans have done and are doing is kind of fascinating.
It’s an interesting build for this team. One of their first great players is now their head coach and he’s done something remarkable with them at a time when it seemed like hope was going to be pretty distant on the horizon.
And so I think that “America’s Team” is made up and arbitrary. It’s not real, but I do think that Texans fans should be thinking like, “Hey, we deserve a little more attention than we’ve gotten,” you know? And if giving them a label like “America’s Team,” helps them get that, I think they deserve it.
Well, this is not something you explored in your article, but I’m going to throw it at you anyway for the sake of argument since there will be a lot about this article. What about the Patriots as America’s Team? I mean, they have six Super Bowls and are in New England.
I think you could make that case, but I don’t think anybody wants to. Certainly not in Texas, but you know, the Patriots had a run as a dynasty. They may be on the cusp of a second dynasty.
But I think that the double-edged sword of having a lot of haters along with your admirers… You know, the Patriots had to be dominant in order to get that. The Cowboys just had to exist.
Well, do you feel like the Texans could go deep in the playoffs this year?
I think anybody could. This is a weird year for the NFL.
I don’t know who’s great in, certainly, the AFC. Like I wouldn’t want to play the Texans defense. They’re pretty scary. I think that they’ve got as good a shot as anybody this year.
