Houston’s visit to New England on Sunday afternoon (4:30 PM ET, CBS) will bring an end to the NFL 2nd round. It’s a rematch of Monday Night game in December when the Patriots blasted the Texans 42-14 and sent them free-falling out of the #1 seed in the AFC. Does Houston have a bounceback in them, or is New England rolling to at least another AFC Championship Game appearance? We’ll look at the matchup, the historical context and how the betting lines look.
The top of the AFC race heats up this week. The four division races might be well in hand, courtesy of New England, Baltimore, Houston and Denver. Now those four have to sort themselves out for homefield advantage and first-round byes. The Broncos kept the pressure on everyone else with Thursday’s win in Oakland. The Ravens have a tough trip to Washington and this week’s card is highlighted by the Monday Night showdown of Houston-New England up in Foxboro. So it’s with the Texans-Patriots that TheSportsNotebook begins its preview of NFL Week 14.