The Texans Don't Play Sunday - Here Are the Seven AFC Games That Can Move Houston's Playoff Math Anyway
Houston's bye-week rooting guide, game by game: help from Indianapolis, Buffalo, the Jets and even Tennessee would pull the AFC pack back toward a Texans team climbing out of an 0-4 start and eyeing a sixth or seventh seed.
HOUSTON - The Houston Texans have no game on Sunday, and a full afternoon of homework anyway. With Houston on its Week 8 bye and climbing out of the 0-4 hole it dug to start the season, Toro Times worked through the Sunday slate and found seven AFC games - plus a bonus - whose results can pull the conference pack back toward the Texans, whose likeliest playoff path, the analysis says, is a late run at a sixth or seventh seed.
The biggest favor would come inside the division. Jacksonville (4-2) is threatening to run away with the AFC South, and an Indianapolis (2-5) upset would hand the Jaguars a third loss and raise questions about them in the process. Baltimore (4-3) at Buffalo (5-1) matters for the wild-card pile-up: a Bills win drops the Ravens to .500, exactly where Houston needs its competitors clustered. Cleveland (5-2) at Pittsburgh (5-2) is the toss-up of the seven - the analysis leans Pittsburgh, on the grounds that the Steelers face the harder road afterward.
The rest of the guide asks Houston fans to root in unfamiliar directions. A Jets win over Las Vegas would drop both teams to 3-5. A Tennessee win - yes, Tennessee (1-6) - over Cincinnati (4-2) would pull the Bengals back to 4-3 while costing the Titans draft position. A Miami (1-5) win over a New England team (4-3) missing A.J. Brown and TreVeyon Henderson to injuries would drop the Patriots to .500. And in the late window, Kansas City (5-1) at Denver (5-2), 4:25 p.m. on CBS, a Broncos win ensures both AFC powers leave the weekend with at least two losses.
The bonus game needs, in the analysis's own framing, no reason at all: Arizona (2-5) at Dallas (3-4) at noon, with Houston's preferred winner listed as the Cardinals - it's the Cowboys. The Texans return from the bye next Sunday, November 8, at the Los Angeles Chargers, and by then the standings around them will have moved one way or the other without Houston taking a snap.
