Houston Texans (11-7) at Baltimore Ravens (13-4)
Playoff Saturday starts with the Texans’ return trek to Baltimore, where they opened the regular season with 25-9 loss to the Ravens. Houston is 2-10 all-time against the Ravens but history has shifted in the Texans’ favor under rookie head coach DeMeco Ryans and No. 2 pick C.J. Stroud. The Texans have never been to the conference championship game. To get there, finding an answer for the Ravens’ defense is the first order of business. There’s also the task of solving the Lamar Jackson riddle. Baltimore led the NFL in rushing this season at 156.5 yards per game and Jackson averages 91.8 yards on the ground in the playoffs for his career. That makes life tricky for the back seven defenders given the Ravens’ recent shift to a pass-first approach to early downs. Gus Edwards had a career-high 810 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season, and Dalvin Cook joins Baltimore for the playoffs. Jackson’s playoff failures have been a storyline this week. He’s 1-3 and lost in the divisional round to the Titans the last time the Ravens secured the top seed in the conference and a first-round bye. Stroud was stellar in shredding the Browns’ No. 1-ranked defense in his playoff debut last week. Now on the road, Stroud braces for Baltimore to mix coverages using safety Kyle Hamilton in a hybrid nickel position with top cover corner Marlon Humphrey (calf) out. The Ravens allowed 16.2 points per game and had a plus-12 turnover margin and 60 sacks in the regular season. The Ravens are optimistic TE Mark Andrews (ankle) can play a role in his first game since Week 11.
Green Bay Packers (10-8) at San Francisco 49ers (12-5)
Kyle Shanahan knows Packers head coach Matt LaFleur all too well, having brought him to the NFL as an assistant with the Houston Texans in 2008 under Gary Kubiak. Shanahan and LaFleur meet again as head coaches on Saturday night in the 10th playoff game between the storied franchises. Shanahan’s 49ers are on a redemption tour since the 2022 NFC championship game loss to the Eagles that unraveled when QB Brock Purdy left with a right elbow injury that required offseason surgery. Bionic Brock led the NFL in yards per pass and passer rating (113.0) while leaning on RB Christian McCaffrey for more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 21 total touchdowns (seven receiving). There are more weapons where McCaffrey came from, including WR-RB Deebo Samuel (12 total TDs in 2023) and leading receiver Brandon Aiyuk (seven TDs, 17.9 yards per reception). Green Bay’s defense clamped down on the Cowboys in Dallas last week to help the Packers become the first No. 7 seed to win a playoff game. QB Jordan Love has starred with 32 TD passes and Green Bay’s current roll also warrants credit to the healthy return of RB Aaron Jones, who scored three rushing TDs last week. The Packers aren’t rich with household names at the skill positions, but that didn’t stop second-year WR Romeo Doubs from the third-best receiving total (151 yards) in team history at Dallas in the wild-card round. Recent meetings between these coaches and teams produced nail-biters: a 30-28 Packers win at San Francisco in 2021 and a 13-10 49ers victory in the divisional playoffs in January 2022.
–Field Level Media
