This coming Sunday the Texans will compete for a trophy
that is as coveted as the Lombardi trophy for Houston’s fans – the Governors
Cup.
The Governors Cup is played for by the Houston Texans and
their inter-state rivals the Dallas Cowboys. The last time these two met in
regular season play was for the Texans inaugural game in the NFL on September 8,
2002. This
was also the first time an expansion team won their first game in 41 years. In
that game, DT Seth Payne sealed the fate of the Cowboys by sacking Cowboys QB
Quincy Carter for a safety. The Texans won the first ever Governors Cup by a
score of 10-19.
Since then, through the good times and the bad, Texans fans
could always remind Cowboys fans of the scoreboard on that fateful day.
While preparing for this weeks’s upcoming game, Texans QB
David Carr was asked if he still remembered that important day in Texans’
history. “Definitely,” Carr said. “It was my first
start, so it was something that was really exciting to me.”
This will be another year of firsts
for the Texans as they compete for the Cup a second time. First year Head Coach
Gary Kubiak will be leading his team into Texas Stadium this Sunday and fewer
territories are more hostile to the Texans. Kubiak is a native Houstonian who
also worked for the Oilers in his younger days, and will certainly play to make
this city proud.
Kubiak was asked if he could recall
the first meeting between these two teams. “Yeah, I remember it,” Kubiak
said. “I remember the coaches here talked to me about the atmosphere being one
of the greatest atmospheres they’ve ever been around in pro football. I remember
how much hype there was for that football game. Being from here you never lose
sight of the fact of that rivalry and I’m sure it’ll be the same this year.”
This year will be a tough exchange between the two rivals.
The Cowboys are 2-2 and the Texans are 1-3 after the 5th week of the season.
The Texans are fresh off a win and a bye week while the Cowboys will be working
to sort out what went wrong in a 24-38 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas’
offense had serious problems against Philly, giving up 7 sacks and 3
interceptions.
“Well you understand that, being from down here, how big
this game is,” Kubiak said. They’ve got a heck of a football team that they’ve
put together. They’ve worked really hard to put that football team together,
and I know that they have tremendous expectations. They’re a heck of a football
team and we’re going down there for a big time game. We’re looking forward to
it.”