Kansas City Chiefs: Lots in Common With Texans

The Kansas City Chiefs are the hottest team in the NFL these days if winning consecutive games is your gauge. But this is usually the time of the year that this franchise has traditionally failed to answer the bell.

For longtime fans of the National Football League and more specifically the AFL, we’re talking Texans vs. Texans on Saturday afternoon.

Before they became the Kansas City Chiefs, the franchise was the Dallas Texans. Now the franchise with one of the longest droughts in league history in terms of a playoff win heads to the city were they last won a playoff game.

Got all that? The last time the Chiefs came away with a postseason victory was a 1993 AFC Divisional Playoff win over the Houston Texans, 28-20, at the Astrodome. Kansas City was led by quarterback Joe Montana, running back Marcus Allen and outside linebacker Derrick Thomas, all members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Sep 13, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) makes a reception during the second quarter as Houston Texans defensive back Quintin Demps (27) defends at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

That’s more than two decades. But if all goes well the Chiefs will remain hot and do what they did back in Week 1 – beat the Texans in Houston. On opening weekend, quarterback Alex Smith and tight end Travis Kelce had their way with Bill O’Brien’s club courtesy of a 27-20 victory.

So what does that got to do with having something in common? In this matchup we are looking at one team that opened the season 1-5 and another at 2-5, with both now squaring off in the postseason.

As we know this is also a meeting between two of the better defensive units in the league. Only two teams gave up more total yards than the Texans this season while Kansas City finished seventh in the NFL in fewest yards allowed.

The Chiefs finished fourth in the NFL with 47 sacks and forced an impressive 29 turnovers this season. The Texans were fifth in the league in sacks (45) and totaled 25 takeaways. Kansas City ranks eighth in run defense, Houston 10th in the NFL in this vital category.

Both teams have very respectable running games and that’s a credit to both O’Brien and Andy Reid, who have learned to adjust to life without Arian Foster and Jamaal Charles, respectively.

But the headliners here are the defensive units. Kansas City allowed just 32 offensive touchdowns this seasons while Houston gave up 34 such scores. But the numbers are far better than that. The Chiefs have given up on 15 of those touchdowns in their final 11 games. The Texans have allowed only 11 offensive touchdowns during the club’s 7-2 finish.

Jan 3, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters (22) celebrates after making a tackle against the Oakland Raiders in the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports /

Houston defensive end J.J. Watt totaled an NFL-high 17.5 sacks. Kansas City rookie cornerback Marcus Peters tied for the league lead with eight interceptions. The Chiefs expect to have outside linebacker Justin Houston back (in Houston), the NFL leader in sacks in 2014. Besides Watt, the Texans got a dozen sacks from outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus.

And how could be ignore the quarterbacks? Alex Smith will be making his fourth career playoff start and threw 20 touchdown passes compared to only seven interceptions this season. While Brian Hoyer did play in all 16 games for Houston this year, he threw for 19 scores and was also picked off just seven times.

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Yes, there are plenty of similarities between these clubs, who stumbled out of the gates and managed to regain their footing. For the Chiefs, they are hoping for one more case of déjà vu and that’s not only a playoff victory in the city of Houston but a repeat of their Week 1 win over these Texans.

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