Wow! What else can I say about the tailgate party? College or Pro… the Texans put on one of the best tailgates anywhere. This would also be one of the closest away games for New Orleans Saints fans in recent memory … and boy do Saints fans travel well! Forget the fact that it was raining when we arrived at the parking lot… this tailgate was epic!

Although this game didn’t have the hype of the regular season match-up between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts … a casual observer may have missed the significance of this game. Forget the fact that both of these teams were still in the playoff hunt on Nov 18th (with New Orleans still expected to make a post season run).
This was an important game for both cities.

The Houston Texans would be heavily criticized in 2006 for selecting Mario Williams with its first pick in the NFL draft. Analyst predicted that the Texans would (without hesitation) select USC's electrifying running back Reggie Bush as the first overall pick … or at the very least, hometown native and fan favorite Vince Young who quarterbacked the Texans to a perfect season and national championship in 2005. At the start of the 2007 season both Vince Young and Reggie Bush were coming off of remarkable rookie seasons ... while Mario Williams had struggled to live up to his high draft status. This game would be the first chance for Williams and the rest of the Texans organization to prove they selected the best player in the draft by going head to head with the Saints and Reggie Bush.

Sadly an aspect of this game that perhaps didn’t draw a lot of publicity out side the Houston area was the fact that Houston had graciously opened its doors to the people of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In the year since Katrina many of those New Orleans refugees had started a new life in Texas … but had remained steadfast Saints fans. For this reason alone, this game was the most popular ticket in the Texans schedule with many Saints fans looking to reconnect with their fallen city.

Another dynamic adding to hype was the return of Texans Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson from knee injury. Johnson was a major reason why the Texans started the season 3-0 and was having the best season of his career before the injury. Fans had their fingers crossed that ‘Dre’ would quickly return to his pro bowl form and that the injury would not have a lasting effect on his career.

This game was also ‘Salute to Military Day’! Boy do those Texans love the men and women in uniform! Check out the flag in the Gametime pictures.

Needless to say all of these factors and more contributed to festival like atmosphere in the Reliant Stadium parking lot … but you could feel the tension also. Although on paper these two teams were about as evenly matched as can be possible in the NFL … only one would prevail. With just 6 weeks remaining in the season … this game was a must win for both teams. In my conversations with both Saints and Texans fans I could not find a single person who was extremely optimistic about their team’s chances on that day.

Post game festivities were also quite enjoyable with both sets of fans gracious about the game’s outcome and willing to just enjoy the moment. There were several DJs spinning tunes in the parking lot that attracted huge crowds of dancing fans. The party would start all over again. We would make friends with our tailgate neighbors and use their homemade BBQ to cook our fish that we caught on Friday. Good times! We would remain in our tailgate spot till late in the evening when beer supplies reached dangerously low levels.