Two days away from the Texans playoff game against the New England Patriots and Houston is on the precipice of making their first AFC Championship game. Is this the team and is this the moment? I asked
the writers of Battle Red Blog to provide their predictions for the Divisional Round game.
Kenneth L.: Patriots 24, Texans 20
Am I picking the Texans to lose again? Yes. Am I a home town hater? At this point, maybe.
After C.J. Stroud’s woeful performance and Nico Collins’ concussion, I’m concerned the Texans won’t be able to effectively move the ball on offense. Against the Steelers, Houston’s run game went off for over 160 yards on and will need to reproduce that production again to win.
On defense, the Texans will face the best opposing offense in weeks. Stefon Diggs vs. Derek Stingley Jr. will be a helluva matchup. The Pats have two healthy RBs and a stout rushing attack. The key battle will be their offensive line against our pass rushers.
Plus, this whole Darrell Taylor situation is getting under my skin. He’s going to show them the whole playbook and reveal our faults. The level of scorn he feels must be powerful to ‘switch sides’ mid-playoff.
VBallRetired: Patriots 17, Texans 14
Sorry, I can’t predict the Texans to win a divisional round game until I see them win one. Houston NFL teams are a collective 0-12 in divisional round game in my viewing lifetime. I’m not sure how it will happen but it feels inevitable.
L4Blitzer: Patriots 19, Texans 15
Kinda like VBall, I am a little gun shy about picking Houston to win a Divisional Round Game until I see it. That it is against the Patriots in their house is also a reason for concern. I don’t see five fumbles and three turnovers from Stroud like last week, but the Pats are more competent than the Steelers. Houston can win here, but until they upend history and an inconsistent offense, I’ll lean Pats 19-15.
Mike Bullock: Texans 27, Patriots 13
Guess that makes me the first homer here. I’ve had a gut feeling all season that the Texans would knock the Patriots out of the playoffs this year. Sure what’s happened in the past would say otherwise, but this isn’t the past. This is the future of H-Town ball under the guidance of Demeco Ryans and Nick Caserio.
Ryans has instilled in this team that they can and will find a way to win, no matter what occurs in-game. On paper, the Texans match up very, very favorably against the Patriots. During the current 10-game win streak, Houston has beaten the Steelers and Bills, both of which beat the Pats this season. This isn’t the Belichik/Brady era, it’s the Ryans/Stroud era. And Saturday will show that to the world.
