Official Texans vs. Chiefs Wild Card Game Thread, 1/9/2016

[WMH]

Leggo!!!

@TexansPR - The @HoustonTexans will face the Kansas City @Chiefs at 3:35 p.m. CT in Houston on Saturday, January 9th in the AFC Wild Card Game

[HPF Bob]

Houston got burned by three things in Week 1 that I hope get fixed:

1. Jamaal Charles. The KC star will not be playing although they have found some backups that are pretty good.

2. Blown coverages. Kelce had a field day against our safeties. Hopefully, Crennel has found an answer for this and I think he has with Hal and Demps as the safeties.

3. One-sided officiating. Nothing the Texans can do about bad officiating. If the NFL suits have determined that KC will win, the refs will find a way to make it happen (phantom holding and PI calls at critical moments). However, the Texans have made a ritual of getting flagged on kick returns. This has to stop. I only saw it happen once against J-ville so perhaps they are improving.

Two defensive keys:

1. Clowney needs to be healthy and disruptive. The more ways we can attack Alex Smith, the more likely they are to stop the double and triple teams of Watt. Mercilus also needs a big day early.

2. Kevin Johnson. The first-rounder from Wake was just getting his feet wet in Week 1. He's progressively seen more snaps and I think will be an asset in pass protection.

On offense, remember we played better once Hoyer was benched for Mallett so the Texans will need to be creative on offense. The only way Houston wins is a low-scoring game in the teens. Head-to-head, that's what I'm expecting - two clubs who are better on defense than they are on offense.

[WMH]

Hoyer shit the bed in game 1. Don't believe he did that to any degree the rest of the season. He put the team in some very bad spots. Hope that guy doesn't show up.

[Keith]

Kinda interesting how there are some similarities between these two teams if you squint a bit. How their seasons went, how they rely on great defenses with so-so offenses, each with a rookie DB making an impact...

Chiefs should expect Justin Houston back this week after missing about a month with a knee. Between him and Tamba Hali, they are part of a tough front 7, which sucks since Duane Brown is done for the season. How the offense gameplans and executes will go a long way in determining whether they will win the game. The Chiefs do a good job of forcing turnovers. Eliminate those, and the Texans will really put the KC offense under more pressure to move the ball.

For the Texans D, matchup issues with tight ends have improved since week 1, but c'mon, it's still an issue. Alex Smith has been sacked a whopping 44 times, which is tied for most in the league (Tannehill, Wilson, and is even one more than Bortles). That's a lot for a guy thought to have a pretty good O-line. Smith is otherwise pretty diligent with the football, throwing just 5 picks.

Should be a tight, fairly low scoring game.

[Nconroe]

Another similarity, both were thought out of it early in the year, KC at 1 and 5 and Texans at 2 and 5. Nice turnaround for sure.

[Arky]

One thing the Texans do is run the ball whether it is working or not.

Several weeks ago, the Texan run game was abysmal averaging 87 yards/gm (28th) and 3.3 yds. per carry (last). Since then and probably due to somewhat poorer competition, they have improved to 108 yards/gm (15th) and got out of the cellar with 3.7 yds. per carry (tied for 28th).

The Chiefs are a step up in run defense - they give up 98 yards/gm rushing (8th) and allow 4.1 yds. per carry (tied for 16th with the Texans and Raiders). If the Texan run game is truly improving, then Saturday will be a good test....

-------------------------------------------------------

Statistically, the Chiefs defense and the Texan defense are just about one and the same. I might give the edge to the Texan defense going into the game because they got their best stats in the 2nd half of the season - i.e., on a bit of a roll.....

--------------------------------------------------------

One edge going the Chiefs way is there giveaway/takeaway of +14, 2nd in the NFL behind only Carolina's +20. The Texans managed to get into positive territory finishing the season at +5 after being -8 at one point in the year.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/givetake

Alex Smith is your ultimate don't-turn-the-ball-over/conservative passing QB (not many giveaways) while the Chiefs defense is pretty good at the takeaways....

-------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of rolls, the Chiefs have won 10 in a row. That's "hot" in today's NFL. Obviously, a big test for the Texans this Sunday...............