The Houston Texans will begin their 2013 season in San Diego to take on the Charger on Monday Night Football to wrap up week one of the NFL season.  They are looking to build off the momentum of a trip to playoffs last season that ended against the New England Patriots in the divisional round by a final score of 41-28.

They will be with newly acquired Safety Ed Reed as he has been activated for Monday's game, but how much he will play has not been released by Texan's head coach Gary Kubiak.  Reed had this to say about his status for the opener,“we’re going to be smart about it.  It probably will be a decision that’s made right before the game. That’s the way this has been going. Kind of 50-50 right now honestly."

Jim Rogash, Getty Images
Jim Rogash, Getty Images
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Houston will have running back Arian Foster (pictured above) in the starting lineup tonight as he has missed all of their preseason games and spent much of the offseason on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list.  Coach Kubiak said that we shouldn't expect Foster to get "30 carries", or have a heavy workload in his first game back from that calf injury.

The defense will hope to be a very viable asset for the Texans led by the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt.  He not only led his team in sacks, but in entire league as well with 20.5.  It wasn't just him though.  As a defense, the Texans led the league in the turnover ratio which helped them to a 12-4 record last season.

They will need a solid game from both sides of the ball if they want to come out on top of Philip Rivers and the rest of the Chargers.  Kickoff is set for 9:15 pm from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego and you can see this game on ESPN.

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