Wade Payne/AP
Texans quarterback Case Keenum throws a pass during the team’s overtime win against the Tennessee Titans, who were wearing throwback Houston Oilers jerseys on Sunday.
Sunday’s NFL game in Nashville, Tennessee, will once again have a decidedly Houston feel.
The Tennessee Titans, who began as the Houston Oilers before the franchise relocated after the 1996 season, will wear Oilers throwback uniforms during Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Houston Texans. The Titans’ uniform plans were revealed this week on social media, with the Oilers’ iconic red, white and Columbia Blue derrick logo serving as the team’s profile picture on the X platform.
Titans defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons, while speaking to reporters in Nashville on Wednesday, acknowledged the team’s uniform choice likely will be a sore spot for the Texans and Houston football fans.
“It’s our job not to get embarrassed in those uniforms,” Simmons said. “I’m sure that the Texans would love to embarrass us in that uniform, especially (considering) what we did earlier this year to them.”
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The Titans, whose 3-13 record is tied for worst in the NFL, rallied to beat the Texans 32-27 on Nov. 24 in Houston. The Texans are 9-7 and already have clinched the AFC South Division title as well as a playoff spot.
Sunday’s game, set for a noon kickoff, will be the first time this season for the Titans to wear their throwback Oilers uniforms. The last time they donned them was during last year’s regular-season finale against the Texans, who came from behind in Nashville and won 19-16 on a 54-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn.
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The Oilers began play in 1960 as a charter member of the former American Football League and reached the height of their popularity in the late 1970s, with Bum Phillips serving as head coach and Texas native Earl Campbell leading the team as a star running back. Team founder Bud Adams eventually moved the franchise to Tennessee and rebranded it as the Titans, although the team retained the rights to the Oilers’ name and logo.
Houston later was awarded a new NFL franchise, the Texans, who began play as an expansion team in 2002.