On Saturday, Jan. 18, the Divisional Round opens with doubleheaders from the top seeds in the AFC and NFC. ESPN will begin coverage of the first matchup — the Chiefs-Texans game. The No. 1 seed Kansas City Chiefs will host the No. 4 seed Houston Texans, with kickoff starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. Following that matchup, Fox will cover the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions against the No. 6 seed Washington Commanders at 8 p.m. ET.
On Sunday, the action continues with the No. 2 seed Philadelphia Eagles hosting the No. 4 seed Los Angeles Rams at 3 p.m. ET. The Divisional Round concludes with a doozy of an AFC contest as the surging Baltimore Ravens meet the Buffalo Bills — a showdown of MVP front-runners Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
With the Chiefs-Texans kicking off the Divisional Round, who will be the announcers to open up the action?
Announcers for Kansas City Chiefs vs. Houston Texans
- Lead Play-by-Play Announcer: Joe Buck
- Color Commentators: Troy Aikman
- Sideline Reporters: Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge
ESPN’s broadcasting team will kick off the Divisional Round with Joe Buck as the lead announcer and Troy Aikman as the lead analyst. Buck and Aikman have been broadcasting games together since 2002. Both analysts started their careers at Fox and moved to the prestigious Monday Night Football booth in the 2022 season.
Aikman and Buck have called over 300 NFL regular-season contests together, 18 NFC Championship Games, plus Super Bowls 39, 42, 45, 48, 51, and 54.
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In 1994, Buck began calling NFL games and was the main play-by-play voice for Major League Baseball on Fox, calling 24 World Series.
As for Aikman, the Hall of Fame quarterback joined Fox’s NFL booth the year after he retired from the Cowboys in 2001.
Chiefs-Texans Game Preview
- Location: Kansas City, Missouri; GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium
- Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
- Channel: ABC, ESPN, ESPN+
In Week 16, the Chiefs defeated the Texans 27-19. Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes registered his fifth-best QB+ score of the season. As for Houston QB C.J. Stroud, his QB+ score was his best of the final five weeks of the regular season.
The Chiefs’ OFF+ score was their sixth-best of the season against Houston. Their highest OFF+ score (83.0) came in Week 17 against the Steelers, the last time key Chiefs offensive starters played. Also, the Chiefs recorded four of their seven best DEF+ scores from Week 13 onward, including the Week 16 game against the Texans. As for Houston, the Texans’ DEF+ score was their third-worst of the season against KC.
Will Kansas City Show Signs of Rust?
Many of the Chiefs’ top players will have 3+ weeks off between games. Does such a long layoff have any impact?
Over the past 20 seasons, nine teams have rested their starting quarterback for their regular-season finale before enjoying a Wild Card round bye. Most of these teams also rested several other key starters. Those nine teams posted a 5-4 record in their Divisional Round games. That win percentage (.556) is significantly lower than the overall win percentage of home teams in the Divisional Round during that span (.658).
However, it’s important to note the small sample size and recent trends. The last three teams to follow this strategy have all won, including the Chiefs in 2020. The last team to lose after two weeks of rest was the 2019 Ravens, who fell to the sixth-seeded Titans.
Will Texans Switch Up Their Coverage on Mahomes?
Houston deployed a different coverage strategy in their Week 16 matchup against the Chiefs. The Texans used Cover 1 on 40% of defensive plays, their highest rate in any game with DeMeco Ryans (regular season or playoffs). For perspective, Houston has played Cover 1 on only 19.5% of its plays against all other opponents in 2024.
Mahomes took full advantage of that coverage decision. He went 11/17 for 147 yards (8.6 yards per attempt) against Houston’s Cover 1, marking his highest passing yardage against that coverage in a single game all season. During the regular season, Mahomes ranked fourth in success rate (54%) against Cover 1.
The good news for the Texans is that they have an effective alternative. Quarters was Houston’s second-most common coverage during the regular season (17.4%). However, they deployed Quarters just twice in Week 16.
Mahomes struggled against Quarters this season, ranking 26th in EPA per play (-0.06) and 30th in success rate (42.7%) — his lowest success rate against any coverage during the regular season.
Per Pro Football Network’s Playoff Predictor, with 10,000 simulations, the Texans are an underdog and given just a 29.9% chance of winning against the Chiefs.
