We haven't seen this matchup before, right? Wait a minute...didn't these two teams square off last season in the first game of the first round of the NFL playoffs? Indeed they did. The big difference is that last year, the Texans were being led by T.J. Yates at quarterback. This year, they have Matt Schaub back in the saddle.
The Texans flat out blew it late in the season. They had the No. 1 seed in the NFL for 16 weeks, but fell to the No. 3 seed after Week 17 by losing to the Colts. Instead of getting a first-round bye, they'll have to play right away. The issue is that their defense has not been very good the second half of the season, and their offensive dominance just hasn't been there. They appear to be a very ordinary team. The Bengals, on the other hand, were quite impressive during the second half of the season, particularly because of their defense.
In the end, I don't see either of these teams making a deep run in the postseason. I'll go with the Texans under the belief that they'll turn things around and get Arian Foster and J.J. Watt going. Texans 24, Bengals 20
Game: Cincinnati Bengals vs. Houston Texans
Date/Time: Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. EST
Television: NBC - Dan Hicks & Mike Mayock