There are Sundays, and then there are postseason Sundays. For the Houston Texans, they will enjoy a postseason Sunday in Kansas City, as they face the Chiefs in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Sunday’s postseason bout with the Chiefs is not like any other for the Texans. It’s perhaps the most important game in franchise history. Never before has Houston gone to the divisional round with as much as excitement as they do now. Never before have they won a game in the divisional round.
Luckily, for Texans coach Bill O’Brien, his team has responded to the pressure of a franchise-altering game. In Houston, it’s all hard work, with the goal of moving on to the AFC championship for the first time in franchise history.
“These guys have been into it, very attentive in the meetings,” O’Brien said on Friday. “I thought we were flying around at practice yesterday, need a good practice today. We’ll be in the stadium today because we’ve got some weather issues outside today. But I think they’ve been into it, and I think that that’s all you can ask. These guys have been attentive, they’ve practiced hard and that’s all you can ask.”
According to O’Brien, the Texans don’t seem to be drained after their overtime thriller win over the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round. Instead, they are as focused as can be.
The Texans need to remain focused and attentive to beat the Chiefs. Playing the Chiefs in the postseason at Arrowhead Stadium is no easy feat, even if Kansas City is 1-5 at home in the playoffs since 2013.
If Houston can avoid their usual slow start on Sunday in Kansas City, their hard work in practice could pay off. If they win, the Texans’ dreams of going to the Super Bowl could become attainable.