After both teams prevented their opponents from scoring a singular touchdown in the Wild Card Round, the Houston Texans will travel north to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round.
Houston comes into this matchup after a dominant showing in Pittsburgh last Monday. They sent the Steelers into the offseason, and possibly Aaron Rodgers into retirement, after a 30-6 beatdown. Like most of the season, it was the defense that did the talking after putting together not one but two defensive touchdowns.
In addition to the two defensive scores, the Texans recorded 4 sacks, 8 tackles for loss, and an interception. New England is going to face a tall and treacherous task going up against this unbelievably well put together defense by DeMeco Ryans.
However, on the other side of the ball, Houston did struggle to put up efficient numbers. Quarterback CJ Stroud fumbled the football 5 different times, while fortunately only losing the ball on two of those occasions. Stroud and the Texans are going to have to do a better job at holding onto the football in yet another hostile environment.
The Texans will also be without their star wide receiver Nico Collins. Collins suffered a brutal concussion during their win against Pittsburgh and has yet to clear concussion protocol. After putting up monster numbers last game, Christian Kirk will once again be a heavily relied upon target for CJ Stroud.
New England is also coming off of a no sweat victory. In their 16-3 victory against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Patriots racked up 5 sacks and an enormous amount of pressures on opposing quarterback Justin Herbert.
If it wasn't for an early Drake Maye interception, the Patriots would have possibly shutout LA. Like Houston, while New England's defense thrived, the offense was stuck in the mud. For success against this brutal Texans defense, the Patriots will need to establish the run game early and often.
The Patriots come into this matchup with a mostly clean bill of health as they look to get to their first AFC Championship since 2019. Along with Bears head coach Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel is the only other remaining first year head coach alive in the playoff picture.
Houston is looking to make history with the possibility of making their first ever AFC Championship appearance as a franchise with a win over New England. It should be a fun one in Foxboro as the Texans and the Patriots meet in the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
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