This weekend on Saturday, the team heads back down to the Houston Texans to take on the AFC South winners. But, much like KC, this is not the same Texans team they faced at the beginning of the season.
The offense of the Texans has been their biggest issue. They have been playing quarterback musical chairs all throughout the season, and this Saturday Brian Hoyer, formerly of the Cleveland Browns, will be the starting quarterback. They currently rank 18th-overall in terms of the passing game, averaging 239.6 yards per game. Hoyer is completing 60.7 percent of his passes for 2,606 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions, including the pick-six to eventual defensive rookie of the year Marcus Peters.
Their biggest receiving threat is DeAndre Hopkins who caught 111 passes for 1,521 yards and 11 scores; he will be a handful for either Peters or cornerback Sean Smith.
The rushing game, which lost Arian Foster for the year has seen its fair share of rushers. Currently they feature Alfred Blue, who is only averaging 3.8 yards per rush, with only two touchdowns. Despite the lack of production in the run game the team still averages 108.2 yards per game good for 15th in the NFL.
The defense of the Texans has greatly improved over the course of the season, led by the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt. This year the sack master has 17.5 sacks and three forced fumbles. The Chiefs tried to stop him in their first meeting but Watt still managed to get to quarterback Alex Smith twice during the game.
They currently hold opponents to only 19.6 points per game, while limiting them to only 310.2 total yards. One of the more scary things is that they are currently ranked third overall defense only behind the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks. The rest of the Texan defense is doing much better than at the beginning of the season and it should be more of a challenge for the visiting Chiefs.
This game will be close. Both teams have great defenses that know how to limit teams in terms of scoring opportunities. The offenses can be hit and miss, but the advantage has to go to Kansas City because they are stable at the quarterback position and have a solid ground game.
The Texans will be a tough opponent for the Chiefs in first game of the Wild Card weekend. But, the hot streak KC is currently riding should prove to be the big factor in the game. They have the better balanced team and should be able to come away from the game with the organization’s first playoff win since 1993.
Prediction: Kansas City 28, Houston 24
There you have it, Addicts. Do you think the Chiefs can keep the streak going or will this be yet another year of a loss in the playoffs for the team? Let us know in the comments.
Thanks for reading.
GO CHIEFS!!