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Baltimore this season has seven wins by 10-or-more points over opponents that entered the game with winning records, tied with the 2014 New England Patriots and 1929 New York Giants for the most such single-season wins in NFL history.
The Texans are bidding to become just the third team since at least 1950, the first year the league can confirm starting lineups for every game, to win multiple postseason games with a rookie head coach and rookie quarterback. With another win this week, head coach DeMeco Ryans and quarterback C.J. Stroud could join John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco with the 2008 Baltimore Ravens and Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez with the 2009 New York Jets as the only teams to accomplish the feat.
Houston (11-7) travels to meet Baltimore (13-4) on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes) in a unique matchup that features the NFL team that committed the fewest turnovers this season (Houston, 14) against the club that tied for the league lead in both takeaways and turnover margin (Baltimore, 31 and plus-12, respectively).
The Ravens are the AFC’s No. 1 seed for the first time since 2019 and are looking to host an AFC Championship Game for the first time in franchise history.
Baltimore wide receiver Zay Flowers is the first rookie to lead a No. 1-seeded team in receptions and receiving yards since the NFL implemented playoff seeding in 1975.
Houston’s C.J. Stroud last week became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a postseason start, breaking the record held by Michael Vick.
Stroud and Jackson face-off in a matchup of former first-overall draft choices aiming to lead their new teams to the Super Bowl. They join five other former first-round quarterbacks – Buffalo’s Josh Allen, Green Bay’s Jordan Love, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield and Detroit's Jared Goff – in action this weekend. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s Brock Purdy – the last overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft – kept pace with all of them in 2023, leading the league with a 113.0 passer rating.
On his 76-yard touchdown reception, Houston’s Brevin Jordan reached the third-fastest speed by a tight end (20.03 MPH) this season.
In six of the previous seven years, at least one road team has won in the Divisional Round. Entering this week, the road team has won five of the NFL’s last nine Divisional Playoff games. Included in that group of road winners are two of the last three Super Bowl champions – the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2021 Los Angeles Rams.
Joseph Santoliquito can be followed on twitter @JSantoliquito.
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