JJ Watt's solution for Houston regaining 'Luv Ya Blue' Oilers look: Play the Titans for it

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston is lucky to have been home to some of the most iconic sports jerseys in history. And even now, more than 25 years since Bud Adams took the Oilers and bolted for Tennessee, Houston still "Luvs Ya Blue."

For many of us, losing the Oilers still stings, and seeing those Columbia blue jerseys on another team makes it even worse.

This weekend, the Tennessee Titans will trot out those light blue uniforms to host the Atlanta Falcons. Yes, of course, the Titans have every right to them since owner Adams moved his NFL franchise to the Volunteer State in the mid-1990s, unless you ask future Hall of Famer JJ Watt.

Watt appeared on ESPN's Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, when he talked about what the jersey means to Houston and him personally.

"I just know, having lived in Houston for 10 years, and the people there and the connection they have to Earl Campbell, to Warren Moon, to Billy White Shoes, to guys that wore these uniforms playing in the Astrodome, it hurts not to be able to wear them in Houston, and it hurts to see them being worn somewhere else," Watt said.

So, No. 99 floated a solution, though it's unlikely to be taken seriously by Titans or NFL brass.

He suggested that the winner of the Texans-Titans game in December gets to keep the iconic throwbacks.

"You can't lose that game if you're Houston. You have to avenge, and then the winner of that game should get the uniforms," Watt said, liking it to a bet in street car racing. "Pink slips. Do pink slips for the uniform. So, maybe Houston wears the white one, and then they wear the baby blue one. So both teams can wear the throwback, and then it's a battle for who gets to keep it."

The Texans and the Titans play in Nashville on Dec. 17. Then they play each other again here in Houston on New Year's Eve.

Luv Ya Blue hasn't returned to the NFL level in Houston, but it's not for lack of trying.

Back in 2019, after Watt and other players talked about the unis, the Titans owner, Amy Adams Strunk, shut down any talk about Houston reclaiming the colors.

"That's very interesting, except the Oilers don't have anything to do with the Texans," Strunk explained, adding that request is "a hard no."

Despite this, the color scheme has actually been adopted by the University of Houston and Rice University's college football programs as one-off alternate looks.

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