Texans win their first road playoff game

The Houston Texans are playing another week of football. It was a familiar script as the Houston Texans offense seemingly ran the ball at will, but inexplicably shot themselves in the foot on several drives. However, that would be burying the lede. It was yet another stellar effort from the Houston Texans defense. They swarmed the Steelers at nearly every turn and sacked Aaron Rodgers four different times until the game was no longer in doubt.

There are always flowers and kudos in these efforts and three different players get theirs on this night. Christian Kirk was a ghost for most of the season and looked like a bust for a player that was expected to be WR2 for much of the year, but for whatever reason it didn’t happen. It happened on Monday night as Kirk exploded for eight catches, 144 yards, and a touchdown. Woody Marks was a huge part of the regular season and that trend continued as he would gain over 100 yards and add a late touchdown.

However, the biggest play of the night came when Sheldon Rankins took a Aaron Rodgers strip sack the distance for a defensive score. That score made it 17-6 and completely changed the tenor of the game. The Texans would go on to add another defensive touchdown from Calen Bullock to make the score 30-6. The game was closer than that for most of it primarily because of three C.J. Stroud turnovers. It was easily the worst playoff performance of his career, but he can now say he has won three playoff games.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses however. Nico Collins was lost during the third quarter with a concussion and is not likely to get out concussion protocol before next Sunday’s game. However, as long as this defense is humming they have a chance. They move onto play the New England Patriots in Foxboro on Sunday. It is a spot where they have suffered playoff humiliation before. Yet, there is a new sheriff in town and it sets up to be an intense battle between two strong defenses. What do you think of the huge Texans win?