Kansas City Chiefs: Five things to watch vs Texans in Divisional Round
The Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon in the Divisional Round. What should fans be watching for in this rematch of week six?
The playoffs have arrived for the Kansas City Chiefs, who – thanks to the Miami Dolphins – got to sit Wild Card weekend out and simply enjoy the other games. The break is over though and it’s time to get back to the goal, which is making it to – and ultimately winning – the Super Bowl.
In order to check off “Step 1” on their to-do list, the Chiefs have to take care of business against the Houston Texans, who beat the Chiefs in week six of the regular season. That’s where we’ll start on our “What to watch for” list.
A LOT HAS CHANGED SINCE WEEK 6 MATCH-UP
Related Story. Five Reasons Chiefs are Different from Week 6 Loss. light
Chiefs fans have been beating this drum all week long, but it’s true; The Kansas City Chiefs are a much different team from the week six team that lost to the Texans. Now does that mean that game didn’t mean anything? No, of course not. It means that the Texans know they can come into Arrowhead and win. That’s a big lesson to know about yourselves.
From the Chiefs perspective, however, the game seems like so long ago and like a team from another season. KC was without Eric Fisher, Andrew Wylie, Sammy Watkins, Chris Jones, and Anthony Hitchens in that 31-24 loss. Even without those guys on the field, the Chiefs led for much of the game and really should have won it. That’s saying something.
It’s also worth noting that Patrick Mahomes re-injured his ankle in that game, so he was playing hobbled against Houston, something that isn’t the case now. Mahomes is back to being good (or pretty good at least) and that wasn’t necessarily what we were looking at in week six.
While regular season wins and losses mean something, Texans fans shouldn’t be pounding their chests too much about that win because both teams have changed and this game has a lot more riding on it.