The Texans made a statement Thursday night.
Still on the outside looking in at the current AFC playoff picture, Houston certainly looked like a team that will be playing late into January under the prime-time Thursday Night Football spotlight. Behind eight sacks from the defense and a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Davis Mills, the Texans beat the Bills 23–19 in front of 70,451 fans at NRG Stadium.
The Texans have now won three straight games to improve to 6–5,
Entering the game, the Texans’ chances to make the playoffs stood at 29%, according to NFL.com. With the win, Houston now has a 49% chance to be playing postseason football. To do so, they’ll have to hurdle the Jaguars (6–4), Chargers (7–4) or Bills (7–4) for a wild-card spot or stay hot to catch the AFC South-leading Colts (8–2).
The loss dropped quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills to 7–4, two games behind the Patriots for first place in the AFC East. Buffalo fell from the No. 5 seed in the AFC to the No. 6 seed behind the Chargers (7–4). If the playoffs started Friday, the Bills would travel to Indianapolis for a wild-card round matchup against the Colts.
Here’s how the NFL playoff picture looks heading into the Sunday slate of Week 12 (Note: all playoff odds are provided by NFL.com):
AFC Playoff Picture
NFC Playoff Picture
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How NFL Playoff Picture Looks After Texans Stifle Josh Allen, Bills on ‘TNF’.
