By Fred Liggett
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It’s a Clash of the Champions at high noon on a Saturday as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans. The Chiefs, AFC West Division Champions, sit at 13-1 on the season while the Texans, the AFC South Division Champions, enter the clash at 9-5. These two teams will play at a normal time but on a not-so-normal day thanks to the NFL. Both Houston and Kansas City are playing the middle game of a three games in 11 day stretch that is expected to tax the teams during a playoff push.
The Chiefs have won several games this season by a narrow margin and the last meeting vs the Texans is an example of that. The Chiefs won last December 18th 30-24 and enjoy a three-game winning streak vs Houston. This meeting of division champions will be seen on NBC to nearly 90% of the country. When viewers outside of Kansas City tune in they will find a fun and festive atmosphere thanks to this being the final regular season home for the Chiefs. With only four days before Christmas Chiefs fans will most likely be wearing Santa costumes, hats anything holiday related as they ho-ho-hope for another home team win. The Chiefs are 7-0 so far this season at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The last time the Chiefs went undefeated at home was back in the 2003 season.
This is a short work week for both the Texans and Chiefs which means injury concerns are a little higher in importance for the teams. Chiefs starting QB Patrick Mahomes has been dealing with a right ankle sprain injury but the Chiefs removed Mahomes from the injured list on Thursday. Not only will Chiefs fans see Mahomes on the field but is expected to see the season debut of WR Hollywood Brown. Brown suffered an injury in the Chiefs first pre-season game and has been out ever since. Brown on Thursday was expected to be removed from the injury list and added to the active roster by game time.
The Texans are enjoying a fine 2024 season and it was full display last Sunday when the Texans beat Miami 20-12 to clinch their division championship with three regular season games left to play. Head coach DeMeco Ryans has the Texans playing well and evidence of that is seen in the play of second-year QB CJ Stroud. Stroud has been finding his favorite receiver WR Nico Collins enough that the Texans wrapped up their division in week 14 of the season. Stroud has thrown for 3,248 yards so far which is exactly 100 yards less than Mahomes who comes in with 3,348 passing yards so far this season.
The start of the week saw the Texans be the favored team thanks to the unknown playing status of Mahomes. Now that Mahomes is expected to start and is well enough to be removed from the team’s injury report that has changed. The Chiefs are favored to win another home game before the calendar turns to 2025. Thanks to the return of Brown and the recent play of a stingy defense that saw six turnovers last week in Cleveland the Chiefs will indeed record that home win over Houston. Expect another close game where the Chiefs will end up with a victory even on a Saturday. That’s What I REID Into It for this week.
