What happens when you pit the NFL’s No. 1 defense against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who field the NFL’s most underwhelming offense? You get the Houston Texans essentially ending Aaron Rodgers’ career with a wild card playoff loss and more questions about Mike Tomlin with a 30-6 loss in the Steel City. Even more, it sets up one of the best matchups in the AFC playoff picture.
The New England Patriots might have home field advantage until the AFC title game if the Denver Broncos advance, but the last team they should want to face is the Texans. Not just because of their defense, but because the Texans are 5-3 in road games this year and 1-0 in road playoff games. I wouldn’t count them out just yet, even if Drake Maye is having an MVP-caliber season.
Did the NFL’s playoff re-seeding affect the Houston Texans playoff matchup?
With the Buffalo Bills defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL’s re-seeding did not affect the Houston Texans matchup. They knew going into Monday night with a win, they’d be playing the Patriots. The re-seeding works with the lowest remaining seed traveling to play the highest seed. Had the Jags won, then yes the Texans would have played the Broncos.
How the Texans’ top defense matchups up against New England
This feels like it will be a vintage, defensive football game. Mike Vrabel is known to field some defensive juggernauts in the postseason. That’s not ideal for a Texans offense that hasn’t been great. They saw some last success against the Steelers, but CJ Stroud struggled with ball security on Monday night. He can’t let those same problems creep up in Sunday’s game.
As for their defense, well, Drake Maye might see the best defense he’s faced all season. The LA Chargers have one of the best, don’t get me wrong, but the Texans are a different beast. The Patriots needed all four quarters to finally get a touchdown. If they can’t score early against the Texans, it will be a challenge for them to come out on top.
Texans vs. Patriots recent history
This will be the 15th matchup all time between the two teams with them meeting in the playoffs just twice before – both in the divisional round. That was back when Tom Brady was torching the NFL so it’s no surprise the Texans are 0-2 against the Patriots in the postseason. This is a new era.
The Texans and Patriots haven’t played each other once since 2021, which was last season and a decisive win for the Texans, coincidentally on the road as well. They last met in the playoffs in 2017.
Full NFL playoff schedule
NFL PLAYOFF ROUND | DATES |
|---|---|
Divisional Round | Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19 |
Conference Championships | Sunday, Jan. 25 |
Super Bowl LX | Sunday, Feb. 8 |
With the wildcard round officially over, we can turn our attention to the divisional round and we finally get to see the top-seeded Denver Broncos in the AFC and Seattle Seahawks in the NFC play their games. Just as good as the Patriots-Texans matchup should be, the LA Rams and the Chicago Bears should be just as riveting.
The rest of the NFL playoffs should feature some good matchups one way or the other. Here’s to the divisional round living up to the same hype as the wildcard round.