Texans’ win over Bills gets them back in the playoff hunt if one simple outcome comes to fruition in Week 12
A Cardinals win over the Jags puts the Texans right back in the playoff race.
It’s crazy how quickly things can change in the NFL.
Three weeks ago, the Houston Texans were 3-5 and labeled a non-contender through the first half of the season. Now, after Thursday night’s resounding win over the Buffalo Bills, DeMeco Ryans and Co. are winners of three-straight games and four of their last five. As a result, the Texans are on the verge of taking their first steps into playoff picture.
The Texans now sit at No. 8, just one spot away from taking the final Wild Card spot. The beauty of the situation is they can take the seventh seed away from the current denizens that are the Jacksonville Jaguars if the Jags lose to the Arizona Cardinals in the desert on Sunday. The Jags would fall to 6-5 with a loss and the division record tiebreaker would determine who gets the seventh seed since the teams split their regular season series with each other. Houston has the far better division record at 3-1, compared to Jacksonville’s 1-1, so that would give the Texans the nod.
The Jags are currently 2.5-point road favorites, but they’ve been fairly inconsistent all season long and while they are a team you don’t take likely, they’re very beatable. Especially considering Trevor Lawrence’s play in 2025.
The turnaround has been pretty remarkable to watch and it’s even more impressive when considering it’s happened under backup quarterback Davis Mills, who is now 3-0 as a starter and has completed 59.5% of his passes for 719 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception over that span. He’s added 38 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, as well.
“Davis has been phenomenal for us these past couple weeks,” Ryans told reporters after the game. “Coming in, especially on a short week, not getting a ton of full-speed reps, the timing of throwing the football, that’s affected a little bit. I thought he weathered the storm, and he handled himself well. Even though we had some passes we would like to connect on, he still stayed steady and still stayed calm as he always does, keeping everybody else calm on the sideline. He did a great job there.
“The two-minute drive before the half, I thought that was an outstanding drive by him. Finding the completion when it counted, making the plays and driving us down to get points, that was huge for us.”
There’s still a long way to go, however, but the Texans are completely aware of that. It all starts immediately in Week 13, too, when they travel to Indianapolis to take on the 8-2 Colts and then to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Chiefs. While the latter is struggling, a December road game in primetime and in Arrowhead is never an ideal situation for any visiting team. They do get a bit of a reprieve afterward in the Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders, but they clearly have their work cut out for them over the next couple weeks.
Either way, the main point is the Texans have brought their playoffs hope back to life. Now, it’s about maintaining the recent success and maybe even elevating the seeding over the final six games of the year.
