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Houston Texans head coach Demeco Ryans gathers his defense to talk about the final play for the Indianapolis Colts during the second half of an NFL football game in Houston, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
The Houston Texans will wear their new rivalry uniforms<\/a>, which will be unveiled later this summer, against the Indianapolis Colts in a prime-time game<\/a> on Nov. 19 at Reliant Stadium.<\/p>\n The NFL\u2019s rivalry uniforms project allows teams from two divisions per year to design an alternate uniform that they\u2019ll wear just once a season for a home game against their biggest division rival. After the AFC East and NFC West broke ground on the concept last season, now it will be the AFC South and NFC North\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n The bad blood that exists with the Tennessee Titans, who took the Houston Oilers history with them<\/a> when they moved and have leaned more into those\u00a0Luv Ya Blue days<\/a> in recent years, would have seemed to make the Titans an easy choice for the rivalry game. However, despite some shots taken at the Titans over the years by Hannah\u00a0McNair<\/a>, the team\u2019s chief community officer and vice president of the Houston Texans Foundation, the decision was more about the impact of the games in recent years. The Titans have had four straight years of double-digit losses, while the Colts have been in the thick of the division race. It also helps that the Colts’ visit to Houston is the only prime-time game on the Texans’ 2026 home slate.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWhat it really came down to in the conversations with the McNairs was really this: What division team has most recently presented ourselves with the most competitive games and games of consequence?\u201d Texans senior vice president and chief marketing officer Doug\u00a0Vosik told the Houston Chronicle. \u201cIf you look at the past couple years especially, it has been the Colts \u2026 Those games of consequence are what turns into really good rivalries in the past, present and future.\u201d<\/p>\n While that may raise eyebrows among some, what the fans really care about is the look of the uniforms. The new gear will be unveiled in late August and available for purchase in early September, but\u00a0Vosik, who says he gets a kick out of all the fan renderings and guesses on social media,\u00a0gave us some clues about what his design team was thinking during the process.<\/p>\n For one, the team is encouraging fans to wear H-Town Blue<\/a> for that Thursday night game. When designing the team\u2019s new uniforms that were unveiled in 2024<\/a>, the Texans came up with a version that relied heavily on the light-blue color once worn by the Oilers, but also featured prominently in the city\u2019s history, including the city\u2019s flag, old-fashioned street tiles<\/a> and the old-school Houston police cars.<\/p>\n