Houston Texans @ New England Patriots
Sunday, January 18th, 3:00 PM ET
Oh boy, this could be a good one. The Houston Texans didn't start out great against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the defense really came through as the game went on, as the team unsurprisingly took down the Steelers. Houston has not gone 13-2 over their last 15 games after that horrid 0-3 start to begin the season.
CJ Stroud was once again good enough, and while we might criticize Stroud for not yet really hitting his stride this year, Houston is in the Divisional Round for the third year in a row with Stroud under center. The interesting thing here is that the Texans have actually never been to the AFC Championship Game, and they'll have to try to get there this year against the New England Patriots.
The Pats have taken advantage of an easier schedule this year and have beaten a ton of weaker opponents, but they did notch a 'good' win over the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round. With how good this defense is and how well Drake Maye has played this year, I am actually going to stick with the Patriots.
We do talk about the Patriots being the new kids on the block, but Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels are the two primary coaches here, and both of them have done quite a bit with this franchise and are very experienced in the playoffs.
This entire staff has had the team ready to roll all year, and I struggle to see how that isn't the case in the Divisional Round. CJ Stroud's game will really have to elevate if the Texans have a chance, and since we have not seen that quite yet, I am going to pick the Patriots to get a low-scoring victory.
This would mean, in our predictions, the Patriots visit the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, which also happened back in 2015.