The Houston Texans are still fresh off of their dominant AFC Wild Card victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. After being completely counted out entering the game, the Texans ended up winning by a final score of 32-12.
Now, they're preparing for a much tougher matchup. On Saturday, they will face off against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Earlier this season, Houston ended up falling short against the Chiefs by a final score of 27-19. However, if they play like they did against the Chargers, the Texans could make a very entertaining game out of the divisional round showdown.
In order to pull off the win, Houston is going to need to play a nearly perfect game and will need a lot of players to step up.
ESPN has now revealead their projection for this weekend's playoff game. Unfortunately, the Texans did not receive a very favorable prediction.
They are giving Kansas City a 62.4% chance to come out on top, while Houston has just a 37.6% chance to do the same.
Of course, that should not be a surprise. The Chiefs are the two-time defending champions and they did beat the Texans just a few weeks ago.
Houston is used to the underdog role already. They were in the same boat last week. If anything, this kind of thing just gives them extra motivation to come out and prove what they're capable of doing.
Despite the unfavorable prediction, the Texans have the talent to pull off the huge upset win.
C.J. Stroud and the offense will need to step their game up a notch. They played well against Los Angeles, but they can't afford to start nearly as slow as they did in the Wild Card. Houston will need to put up points in order to hang with Mahomes.
Defensively, the Texans need to have the same game plan that they had against Justin Herbert. They need to put a lot of pressure on Mahomes and take advantage of any mistakes he makes.
All of that being said, the stage has been set for Houston. Beating Kansas City will not be easy, but if they can somehow pull off the win it would be one of the biggest upsets in recent NFL history.
