The Texans' 45-14 rout of the Browns in the wild-card playoffs may have surprised some, but probably not Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh.
Four months ago, the day after the Ravens beat the Texans, 25-9, to open the regular season, Harbaugh predicted that the Texans were going places this year.
"Really proud of the guys and really proud of the win against a good Houston team," Harbaugh said in September. "I've said this before about certain teams early in the season – 'They're going to win a lot of football games this year.' Mark it down. You'll see. That's a good, young football team."
As of now, the Ravens would face the Texans in the divisional playoffs Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium. If the No. 7-seeded Steelers beat the No. 2 Bills tonight, Baltimore would face Pittsburgh on Sunday.
The Texans started the season 3-4, capped by a loss to the Carolina Panthers, who finished with the worst record in the league. But Houston bounced back with three straight wins that turned around its season. Under first-year Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, the Texans have steadily improved and have now won three straight again.
The Ravens held Stroud to 28-of-44 passing for 242 yards in the season opener. He didn't throw any touchdowns or interceptions and was sacked five times. Only once this season was he sacked more times. Stroud has matured a lot since then, leading the NFL with a 23-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio during the regular season.
He threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns against the Browns in his playoff debut, becoming the youngest (22 years, 102 days) quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game, topping Michael Vick (22 years, 192 days).
After losing his NFL debut in Baltimore on Sept. 10, Stroud said he was thankful to have, "the opportunity to play my first NFL football game against a great team like Baltimore – a great defense and a special player like Lamar Jackson."
Now there's a decent chance they'll get a rematch.
