A few weeks ago, nobody expected the Houston Texans to be playing this weekend in the Wild Card round of the playoffs considering they started the season with an 11-1 record and seemed to have a first-round bye locked up. Unfortunately for the Texans, they ended the season losing three of four games–which makes them on upset alert this weekend against the Cincinnati Bengals as the 2013 NFL Playoffs get underway.
In the first half of the season, Houston had one of the top defenses in football to go along with their high-powered offense and seemed like the team to beat in the AFC. However, everything has seemed to go downhill since their 42-14 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 14 and with the way Cincinnati has been playing in the second half–Houston realizes Saturday’s game isn’t going to be a walk in the park like last season.
After locking up the No. 6 seed in the AFC, the Bengals turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the second half after winning seven of their final eight games of the regular season. Andy Dalton and A.J. Green won’t be easy for the Texans’ defense to contain in this matchup and with the way they’ve been struggling lately–they seem like the team most likely to be upset in the first round.
If the last few weeks are any indication of what to expect, the Texans could be in trouble and the Bengals could finally be in for their first playoff win during the Marvin Lewis era.
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