The Houston Texans travel to Kansas City, Mo., on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020, to face the Kansas City Chiefs following their overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills in the wild card game last weekend. The Chiefs lead both the playoff series, 1-0 and the all-time series 6-5, even though the Texans have won two of the past three games, including their victory over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in October. The Texans’ playoff record is 4-5, they are 7-4 against common opponents, and coach Bill O’Brien is 2-3 versus the Chiefs and has a 2-3 playoff record. Kansas City is heavily favored to win this game, but the teams match up evenly in statistics. If the dynamic duo that is Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins is on task and J.J. Watt makes an impact like he did last week, the Texans have a chance to pull off the upset and advance to the next round.
2019 Season in Review
The Texans won the AFC South division title for the second year in a row and for the fourth time in five years and won their first playoff game since 2016 last week when they defeated the Bills. This is the second O’Brien has advanced to the Divisional Round in his head coaching career and the Texans are ranked fifth in the AFC with 23.6 points per game and sixth with 382 yards per game. The Texans also rushed for 2,009 yards this season which is the sixth time in franchise history that they rushed for more than 2000 yards and 17 touchdowns, which is the fourth-most rushing touchdowns in a single season in team history. Watson, Hopkins and Laremy Tunsil were named to the 2020 Pro Bowl.
The Texans ended their season 11-6 and Watson threw 333 of 495 completed passes for 3,852 yards, 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for a 98 rating. Hopkins led with 104 receptions for 1,165 yards and seven touchdowns and Carlos Hyde posted 245 carriers for 1,070 yards and six touchdowns. Whitney Mercilus led the team with seven-and-a-half sacks, Tashaun Gipson with three interceptions and Ka’imi Fairbairn added 100 points by kicking 40 of 45 extra points and 20 of 25 field-goal attempts.
2019 Season Notables
In the wild card playoff game last week, Watson completed 80 percent of his passes for 247 yards and a touchdown for a 121.2 rating in addition to 55 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. In his two career postseason games, he has 131 rush yards, which is the third-most by any quarterback in the first two career postseason games in league history. In the Week Eight meeting between the teams, Watson passed for 280 yards and a touchdown as well as putting two rushing touchdowns on the board and in the two games he’s played against the Chiefs he has recorded eight touchdowns total.
Hyde recorded his first postseason career touchdown in the game against Buffalo last week and in the Week 6 meeting, he posted 116 rushing yards and a touchdown. Hyde also recorded his first 1,000-yard season in 2019. Duke Johnson is going for his third game in a row against Kansas City with at least one receiving touchdowns, posted a touchdown in the meeting earlier this season, and is one of only two running backs with 40 or more catches in each of the last five seasons.
Hopkins led the Texans with six catches and his career postseason high of 90 yards last week and in the Week 6 meeting, he recorded nine catches for 55 yards. He is tied for the lead in the AFC with 104 catches for 1,165 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019.
Will Fuller ser his career highs in catches and receiving yards this season and seven catches in two career postseason games. Darren Fells is ranked third among tight ends with a career-high seven receiving touchdowns in the regular season.
J.J. Watt, who made his return off of the injured reserve last week, changed the momentum of the game last week with one sack. In his seven career postseason games, he has posted nine tackles for loss, six sacks, and five pass deflections. Watt is an important and integral part of the Houston defensive line.
Mercilus added a sack last week to his team lead along with a forced fumble and has posted seven sacks in his last five postseason games. Jacob Martin also put a sack and a fumble recovery on the books last week.
Even though Kansas City is heavily favored to win this game, the numbers from the 2019 season don’t reflect such an easy win for the Chiefs. The Texans have already defeated them once this season, the key players’ stats are equally matched, and if Watson, Hopkins and Hyde come with their offensive “A-game” and Watt and Mercilus do the same, the Chiefs won’t get such an easy win.
We are inspired.
We are resilient.
We are in this together.#WeAreTexans pic.twitter.com/XsX38vyDH2— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) January 9, 2020
