Chiefs Kryptonite: This Houston Texan will be the Difference Maker in Showdown Against Chiefs
After a huge 32-12 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card matchup on Saturday, the Houston Texans are set to take on the reigning Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
The last time these two heavyweights faced off against each other, the Chiefs got the best of the young Texans’ offense. The defense limited quarterback CJ Stroud to 244 passing yards while tallying two interceptions. Along with Kansas City’s success against Stroud, the defense made running back Joe Mixon a non-factor in the contest, who finished with 14 rushes for 57 yards.
With Houston’s season on the line, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik must utilize star wide receiver Nico Collins in order to generate production through the air.
According to Football Insights on X, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s highest percentage of coverages throughout the regular season was cover one man at 21.2 percent. This is followed by 19.5 percent of his play calls being in cover four zone.
Luckily for the Texans, Collins was successful this season against teams that heavily rely on these coverages. In his four games against Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars, the talented wide receiver totaled 30 catches for 400 yards and three touchdowns. Jacksonville ran the most cover four in the NFL this season, while Tennessee had the second highest percentage of cover one in 2024.
On top of Collins’ success this year, Stroud targeted his trustee wide receiver in the team’s pervious matchup against Kansas City. Collins finished with seven catches for 60 yards on 10 targets. With Houston missing Tank Dell for the rest of the season, the 25-year-old wideout will have a heightened role verses a stout Chiefs defense.
