This Saturday begins the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Eight teams are left standing, and for the fifth time in their franchise's history, the Houston Texans are one of them. In this new age of rookie head coach DeMeco Ryans and rookie phenom quarterback C.J. Stroud, this is all happening a little faster than we anticipated, which is awesome!

In past trips to this round of the postseason, it has not gone well for the Texans. Pick any year they've gone that far, and the previous sentence applies. They are 0-4 in the divisional round, and aside from their first trip (ironically, also in Baltimore, and also with a rookie quarterback, T.J. Yates), the games have not been particularly close.

Truth be told, there's never been ton of belief in the Texans in the betting community, even when they make it this far in the postseason. The smallest spread was that 2011 game in Baltimore, an 8 point spread. This Saturday, the Texans are 9 point underdogs. So how do we feel about their chances, as compared to postseasons past? Let's take a look:

2011 – Ravens 20, Texans 13 (Box, Texans +8)
This was the Texans' first ever trip to the postseason, and I contend, to this day, that this was, top to bottom, the most talented Texans team in the history of the franchise. If Matt Schaub had stayed healthy, I think they win the Super Bowl. However, Schaub didn't stay healthy, and the Texans went up to Baltimore with rookie T.J. Yates at quarterback. In that game Yates threw three picks, but still the Texans had a shot at the end. No dice, though.

2012 – Patriots 41, Texans 28 (Box, Texans +9.5)
The following season, Schaub was healthy all year, and this version of the Texans still owns the best regular season in team history, with a 12-4 record. However, the wheels had started to come off on this Texans team in December, losing 3 out of 4, the most infamous of which was the "letterman jacket" game in New England on Monday Night Football in Week 14. The Texans struggled against the Bengals at home in the wild card round, and was kind of a semi-dead team walking going back to New England for this round of the playoffs.

2016 – Patriots 34, Texans 16 (Box, Texans +16)
Four seasons later, the Texans went back to New England for the divisional round. Like 2012, they'd gotten worked in New England in the regular season, a 27-0 loss to a Jaboy Brissett-led version of the Pats, and with Brock Osweiler under center, the playoff game went about how one would expect.

2019 – Chiefs 51, Texans 31 (Box, Texans +10)
Until now, Deshaun Watson was probably the best quarterback leading the Texans into the divisional round. Unfortunately, he had Bill O'Brien as his head coach. The Texans jumped out to a 24-0 first half lead, and they trailed 28-24 by the half. The Chiefs finished the game on a 51-7 run, and three weeks later, they would win the Super Bowl.

CONCLUSION
This 2023 version of the Texans has the head coach I most trust, and the quarterback I most trust, which is remarkable when you consider each one is in his first season doing his respective job. The only version of the Texans I would say was better equipped to pull off the upset would be the 2011 version, which had Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, Johnathan Joseph, Owen Daniels, and the entire offensive line in their primes, and young versions of J.J. Watt, Brooks Reed, Kareem Jackson, and Glover Quin. All of that SHOULD have made up for a rookie fifth round pick under center.

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