Thoughts on covering my first NFL game
By Heather Mormon
This year has been an exciting time for this sports writer. It all began in Las Vegas in April when I had a press credential to cover the 2022 NFL Draft, continued a couple of weeks ago when I had a press credential to cover the Houston Texans Training Camp, and culminated Saturday night when I had the privilege to cover my first NFL game from the press box at NRG Stadium in Houston when the Texans took on the New Orleans Saints.
This will be a very special year as I continue to hone my writing skills. I have been blessed to be granted a season press credential to cover the Texans home games in 2022. I will share some thoughts about the experience.
We arrived at the stadium about 2 ½ hours before the 7 PM kickoff to get our season credentials from the Media Will Call Office. Once receiving them, we went into the media entrance where our bags were searched before we were cleared to get on the elevator to go to the 8th floor press box.
Upon arriving in the press box, we located our seats for the game, which were on the 30-yard line. The view was amazing! We were also fed a pregame meal of baked salmon, barbecue brisket, black beans, macaroni and cheese and salad. In addition, there was popcorn available along with cookies, chips and desert snacks. In addition, at halftime, chicken tenders and nachos with white queso and chili. Cold drinks, iced tea, lemonade and water were also available, along with ice cream at halftime.
As for the game, even though it was a preseason matchup, the two teams were very competitive, and the home fans went home happy, as Houston scored with 25 seconds left to capture a come-from-behind 17-13 victory.
We covered the postgame press conference in the team auditorium. Coach Lovie Smith, starting quarterback Davis Mills and 3rd string quarterback Jeff Driskel answered questions from the media members in attendance.
Mills was asked how he felt getting on the field for the first time this season.
“It felt comfortable going out there picking up from where we left off at training camp. Now we’re kind of off to the real stuff, to games. I felt comfortable out there but obviously we’d have liked to have put together some longer drives, but I feel like I handled it well. I saw the defense, I executed well overall and we ended up with a win tonight. The team put it together enough to get the win and that’s all we care about.”
When Driskel faced the media he was asked how he felt about his performance, which was almost all of the game.
“It was up and down; turned the ball over three times there. You know, we’ve got to get those cleaned up, but for a quarterback, they were throwing errors. They weren’t bad reads, they weren’t mental errors. That’s something that I’ve still got to get cleaned up. Those can’t happen. You know, NFL games come down to two minutes, so we went out there and made a couple of plays and found a way to win.”
Getting to cover the game the seeing the fantastic finish definitely whetted this lady’s appetite for the final preseason game at NRG Stadium on August 25th and for the 2022 regular season!