Why Houston Texans will dominate Baltimore Ravens in the NFL AFC Divisional Finals –NFL Special Part 2
The Houston Texans are going into the second round of the National Football League (NFL) playoffs, with a game against the Baltimore Ravens to be played in Baltimore on Sunday, January 15, 2012, and with all the building excitement, they are tipped to have
many advantages, giving them a competitive edge over their rivals.
Despite the fact that Texans have not been taken serious over the past few weeks, the side is different altogether with many positives upfront.
It has been seen during their regular season that the Texans are really good at staging a late comeback.
Many teams with apparent lead in first half did not take them serious enough in the second, and ended up losing just because of their ability to trigger the late recovery and lead.
The team’s defense department, which now ranks the second best in the league, bodes well into their hopes of winning.
Since the joining of defensive coach, Wade Phillips, the Texans' defence has progressed from being at the 30th position in the league last year, to having ended up as the second best at the end of the 2011 regular season.
Some of the players and officials have credited Philips for all the progress they have made this season.
The official is already on radar for many teams as a potential head coach, which speaks about how much he has put into the Texans' defence.
In their last game of the playoff, they have allowed only 10 points against them, which speaks of their defence strength.
Further, the Texans are riding on higher confidence momentum.
Despite losing three games at the end of the regular season, they maintained a seven-game winning streak earlier, which has bolstered their morale very high.
They are coming out of the first round of the playoffs with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals with a clearer and wider margin, a final score of 31-10.
This has boosted their confidence, going into their next game against the Ravens as they just might turn the tables on them.
The team also has an ability to overcome their injury problems successfully.
The club was without their star quarterbacks, Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, in the later part of the regular season and first round of the playoff, and are now reported to be out for good at the moment, until the next season that is.
Houston Texans are down to their top fifth pick, T.J. Yates, who has been promoted to take the number one quarterback spot.
The team has problems with its wide receiver, Andre Johnson, who has missed as many as nine games in the regular season and is still not ready to make a comeback.
However, the Texans have won consecutive games without these players.
By and large, the Texans have many reasons to believe in themselves and go for a must win over the Ravens this Sunday.
Their coach, Gary Kubiak, has already spoken high of his player’s performance, saying that all of his players have done a great job this season.
He has further backed them to go into their next game and play the game according to their potential and will.
However, Kubiak has refrained from putting pressure of a must-win on them, hoping that they will perform even better without pressure of any sort on their mind.
With all their positives and confidence, the Texans stand good chances to win their next game, which will be another remarkable achievement by them and definitely prove their critics wrong.
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