Vikings may be a tough 6 seed
The Houston Texans may have already got a 31-24 regularseason win against the Kansas City Chiefs, their upcoming divisional playoff opponent, at Arrowhead Stadium.
However, the Texans and Chiefs of today are quite simply not the same sides they were on Oct. 13.
Texans’ additions
Deshaun Watson’s offense was without both wide receiver Kenny Stills and second-year tight end Jordan Thomas. While the latter will likely see little game time come to the divisional matchup, Stills has shown himself to be a reliable and unpredictable target. And with fellow receiver Will Fuller possibly back for the divisional round, the fully stocked receiver corps could be hard for the Chiefs to control.
The biggest change for Houston is its revamped secondary. While the Texasns are now without starting safety Tashaun
Gipson, who notched an interception against quarterback Patrick Mahomes, they have stabilized and upgraded their cornerback group considerably since Week 6.
Due to injuries both prior to and during their eventual victory in Kansas City, the Texans were left with free agent Philip Gaines and rookies Lonnie Johnson and Xavier Crawford to take much of the brunt of Mahomes’ arm.
This time it will be down to
REED HOFFMANN/AP former first-round picks Bradley Roby, Gareon Conley and Vernon Hargreaves, as well as veteran Johnathan Joseph, assuming he is healthy.
Chiefs making changes
Not only is Mahomes no longer an injury concern, but their offensive line is back to full strength thanks to the return of left tackle Eric Fisher.
The front office added a powerful run-stuffing defensive tackle in Mike Pennel and a veteran offensive lineman in Stefen Wisniewski. Their defensive line rotation has become much more successful with Pennel in the mix. Wisniewski has filled in for injured left guard Andrew Wylie and provides depth at three positions on the offensive interior.
And let us not forget the addition of veteran defensive lineman and likely future Hall of Famer Terrell Suggs. The 37year old former All-Pro notched his first sack for the Chiefs in Week 17 and will be keen to show he still has what it takes to silence Father Time.
Now or never
Andy Reid’s side is not only fresher, coming off a bye week, but the Chiefs are still riding the wave of a six-game winning streak. Meanwhile, with Fuller set to return, JJ Watt looking healthy and an improved secondary on their side, the Texans stand as good a chance as they’ve had to make it to their first conference championship game.
The Minnesota Vikings and the Tennessee Titans are No. 6 seeds coming off wild card round victories but now they must tackle No. 1 seeds San Francisco and Baltimore, respectively.
Since 2013, teams who entered the playoffs as the No. 6 own a combined record of 10-4 in the wild card round, but none of them has won a divisional round contest.
The last time a No. 6 seed advanced to a conference championship round was in the 2010 season when both the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets defied the odds. The Jets fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC title game but the Packers beat the Chicago Bears en route to winning the Super Bowl over the Steelers.
Of this year’s two No. 6 seeds, my well-oiled machine feels the Vikings are better capable of repeating Green Bay’s run to a title in Super Bowl XLV. This is San Francisco’s first winning season in six years and head coach Mike Zimmer has an outstanding 40-23-1 SU (straight up) and 44-18-2 ATS (against the spread) career record with the Vikings versus non-division opponents.
Stat of the week:
The Kansas City Chiefs are 1-7 SU and ATS in their last eight playoff games at Arrowhead Stadium.