- The Chiefs beat the Texans 23-14 in the AFC Divisional Round
- KC advances to its 8th straight AFC Championship Game
- The Texans blew their opportunities and they acted immaturely
In our Texans vs Chiefs Divisional Round recap, we look at Kansas City’s 23-14 win over Houston, a hard-fought victory to advance to their eighth consecutive AFC Championship Game. Again, the Chiefs took advantage of every opportunity and made fewer mistakes than the Texans did.
They are one win away from another Super Bowl.
A Lack of Maturity Dooms the Texans
Houston lost its composure very early. Kansas City’s Nikko Remigio took the opening kickoff and returned it 63 yards. Houston defensive back Kris Boyd tackled him and Remigio fumbled. But the Chiefs recovered. As Boyd ran off the field, he threw his helmet, drew a 15-yard penalty for it, and then shoved his special teams coach.
Although it didn’t come back to hurt them, Demeco Ryans showed desperation by going for it on 4th and 10 trailing 20-12 with 10 minutes remaining. They should have punted and pinned KC near its goal line.
It highlights the difference between the two coaching staffs. Andy Reid does not panic. Kansas City had its own history of screaming, shouting, and grabbing incidents, but they seemed based more on intensity than outright panic.
The Texans have some growing up to do if they want to take that next step. They remain the only team in the NFL never to have gotten beyond the Divisional Round and at least reached a Championship Game.
C.J. Stroud played well completing 19 of 28 passes for 245 yards. Joe Mixon ran for 88 yards on 18 carries. Nico Collins caught eight balls for 81 yards.
Would the game have been different if they had Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell? Possibly. But that would not address the lack of maturity. That comes from the head coach.
Mahomes and Kelce…Again
If this is the last go-round for Travis Kelce before he retires and heads off into the entertainment world, he’s making sure everyone knows it’s a conscious choice and not because he doesn’t have it anymore. He caught 7 balls for 117 yards and a touchdown. Mahomes was efficient, completing 16 of 25 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown. The defense clamped down when it needed to.
The gentle treatment of Mahomes and the officials’ knee-jerk throwing of flags for non-hits is getting ridiculous. Protecting the quarterback — particularly the biggest star in the NFL — is fine. The league certainly does not want to go back to the days of the faces of franchises getting rag-dolled. But now he’s taking liberties, scrambling, and refusing to slide knowing opposing defenses do not want to draw penalties, gaining extra yards because of it.
Most are discussing the first unnecessary roughness penalty:
But Mahomes’ egregious behavior came later when he pulled a soccer move, acting like he got hit by a missile as he ran out of bounds:
The league needs to reconsider how to penalize defensive players for unnecessary roughness. But it also needs to weigh penalizing players who flop. Mahomes needs to be careful. Houston was already on guard for its reputation after Azeez Al-Shaair’s hit on Trevor Lawrence (among other questionable hits by the Texans this season). If teams look at the likelihood of getting a 15-yard penalty for breathing on Mahomes and he’s going to embellish, then perhaps the Ravens will say, “Hey, we’re getting penalized anyway. Might as well hammer him.”
KC Awaits Its Last Obstacle Before Super Bowl LIX
The Chiefs will wait to see if they’ll host Baltimore or Buffalo. As our Texans vs Chiefs Divisional Round recap shows, they’ve overcome every obstacle, have the experience, and continually get the job done at crunch time. They’re right to be reasonably confident that they’re going to Super Bowl LIX.
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