With the home teams winning in the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs will face the Houston Texans next Saturday Night at Arrowhead in their first appearance of the postseason. This will be a rematch of their Week 16 game, where the Chiefs handled the Texans 27-19.
On Saturday, the Houston Texans defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12 to advance to the divisional round. Next Saturday afternoon, they will face the Kansas City Chiefs at 3:30 PM CST at Arrowhead. The game can be seen on ESPN and ESPN Plus.
The Denver Broncos, the last seed in the AFC playoffs, lost to the Buffalo Bills 31-7 on Sunday, eliminating both AFC West teams. With the Bye Week, the Chiefs had plenty of time to heal their wounded, rest, and get ready to begin the trek to becoming the first Three-Peat Super Bowl Champion in NFL history.
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Buffalo will host the Baltimore Ravens in the other AFC divisional round game. Led by Derrick Henry, the Ravens beat up their division rival 28-14 to advance. That’s another regular season rematch that saw the Ravens defeat Buffalo at home, 35-10 back in week four. This time, the Ravens will be the road team.
If we evaluate the AFC, the four remaining playoff teams each won their division, and those battles helped them avoid any upsets. The Chiefs are the top seed and are very familiar with the Texans.
Houston struggled at the end of the season, but they bounced back, winning their regular-season finale with backups, which sparked new confidence in their team. The Chargers entered the playoffs as the heavy favorite, but the Texans’ swarming defense set the tone.
Despite defeating the Texans in December, they have their defensive swagger back, and Quarterback C.J. Stroud was steady in the team’s wild-card game. It’s the second consecutive year he’s guided Houston to a win in the Wild Card round.
Those games were at home, so the Chiefs must invade Arrowhead again to advance to the AFC Championship game. The Chiefs should be heavy favorites in this game, and I doubt this team will exhibit any rust when it gets back into action.
Yes, the starters haven’t played for three weeks, but with a veteran team, hall-of-fame quarterback, and head coach, the Chiefs will be ready for whatever obstacles the Texans throw in their path to advance to the AFC Championship in Kansas City.
The Chiefs will enter the game with several questions. First, will Andy Reid keep Joe Thuney at left tackle and Mike Caliendo at left guard? D.J. Humphries started last weekend against Denver, but he wasn’t as dominant as Thuney has become down the stretch for the Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes was at his best during the three-game, eleven-day stretch of games. He carved up the Cleveland Browns, Texans, and Pittsburgh Steelers to lock up the top seed in the AFC.
Additionally, returner Mecole Hardman is eligible to return, which could threaten Nikko Remigio’s roster spot. If he’s cut, he won’t clear waivers. Further, Cornerback Jaylen Watson could return for the divisional round.
Reid mentioned last week that Watson looked good in practice and that Chris Jones has improved with his leg injury, so he should be ready to go next weekend.
Either way, these teams have postseason history, and for the faint of heart, let’s hope the Chiefs don’t start the game in a 24-0 deficit like they did in 2019.
