The Houston Texans took care of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night in the Wild Card Round to advance to the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs. The Texans were locked in a tight game for three quarters before scoring 23 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, which featured two touchdowns by their defense.
The Texans will be taking on the New England Patriots, who made easy work of the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
Here are the opening Texans vs Patriots odds for the NFL Divisional Round of the playoffs next weekend.
Texans vs Patriots Odds
| Texans Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+2.5 -110 | 41.5 -110o / -110u | +124 |
| Patriots Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-2.5 -110 | 41.5 -110o / -110u | -146 |
Houston Texans Preview
The Texans started the season buried at 0-3, but rebounded to win their final nine games and enter the playoffs as hot as any team. They continued their winning run against the Steelers in the final Wild Card game of the playoffs.
Houston’s defense remains its calling card under head coach DeMeco Ryans. The unit is led by Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter up front, and has a nasty secondary behind them. That defense gives the Texans a shot in any game.
Houston hasn’t lost by multiple scores all season, and the defense forces 3-and-outs an outlier 39% of the time, basically turning every opposing offense into the league-worst Raiders.
The question now is if Houston’s offense can keep up. The offensive line has improved, but still can’t create anything in the run game. However, CJ Stroud and Nico Collins have gotten into a better rhythm down the stretch — but Collins' status will need to be monitored this week after he suffered a head injury against the Steelers.
Houston unders have been a thing all season. The Texans' defense will give them a shot in any game, but the offense still needs to find some answers.
New England Patriots Preview
Drake Maye is the odds-on favorite to win MVP, and he led the AFC-East champion Patriots back into the playoffs and immediately earned a win — New England's first postseason win since 2018.
New England’s downfield passing attack has been a revelation, leading the league in explosive pass rate at nearly one every five attempts, and the rushing attack has been inconsistent, but explosive with rookie TreVeyon Henderson doing his part.
New England has benefited from one of the softest schedules in recent history, easiest against both offenses and defenses by DVOA, and the Patriots were just 3-2 against teams that entered the final weekend with postseason dreams, with only two of those against teams locked into the playoffs.
This team has been great, but is largely untested, and the defense remains pretty suspect. The run defense was awful down the stretch, but should get a boost with the return of Milton Williams, and the passing defense was better late, but needs to hold its ground.
Still, this is Maye’s team, and the Patriots will go as far as their MVP takes them.
