{"id":901942,"date":"2026-05-26T18:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/901942\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T18:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:24:59","slug":"opinion-well-know-if-houston-is-no-1-seed-contender-after-three-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/901942\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: We’ll Know If Houston is No. 1 Seed Contender After Three Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Texans<\/a> are gearing up for a pivotal season in 2026. With the roster mostly intact from a 12-win season last year and Houston just shy of a conference title appearance, there is growing sentiment in regard to a playoff run that this is the year to do it. Earning home-field advantage would make that playoff run a lot easier to make.<\/p>\n

The Texans have a real shot to earn the No. 1 seed, but whether or not they follow through will be evident in the first three games. The Texans take on the Buffalo Bills<\/a>, Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> and Indianapolis Colts<\/a> to start the season.<\/p>\n

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Jared Koch of Houston Texans on SI shared the opportunity ahead<\/a> for the first two games of the year at home.<\/p>\n

“It’ll be DeMeco Ryans<\/a>‘ fourth year at the helm of this Texans roster, and to this point, he’s yet to start a season off on his own home field.<\/p>\n

That’ll change this season when Ryans and the Texans host the Buffalo Bills in Week 1. The last time Houston was hosting for their Week 1 matchup came back in 2022 when they wound up tying with their division rival Indianapolis Colts, 20-20.<\/p>\n

The Texans will also be taking their home field for their second game in Week 2 vs. the Cincinnati Bengals following that game against Buffalo. Houston has only started back-to-back games at home one other time throughout its 25-year franchise history.”<\/p>\n

\"HoustonHouston Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter<\/a> (55) celebrates after defeating the Buffalo Bills at NRG Stadium. Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Texans’ first three opponents are all primed for playoff contention. The Bills come off a 12-win season of their own, while the Bengals and Colts look to rebound from underachievement from their last time on the field.<\/p>\n

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The Texans defeated the Bills last year in a defining moment for the team. To outsiders, the win proved Houston’s legitimacy even if the team knew what it was capable of doing. Starting the year with a win could set the tone.<\/p>\n

The Bengals can be expected to go all out with quarterback Joe Burrow<\/a> returning from injury. Should he make it out of Week 1 unscathed, Cincinnati should be pedal to the metal when they come to town.<\/p>\n

Then there is the matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, who fell apart after starting the season 8-2. Count on the Colts to go all out to beat the Texans.<\/p>\n

Houston’s schedule does not come with many pitfalls. Most of the team’s toughest opponents outside of Buffalo and the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> bring promise more than production from last year. But the first three games will test the Texans’ mettle. If they end the three-game stretch with more wins than losses, a No. 1 seed in the AFC is within reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Texans are gearing up for a pivotal season in 2026. With the roster mostly intact from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[53,256,2005,6047,3607,7,253,2004,392,2381,125,1577,6,120997],"class_list":["post-901942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indianapolis-colts","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-colts","tag-danielle-hunter","tag-demeco-ryans","tag-football","tag-houston-texans","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-indianapoliscolts","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-joe-burrow","tag-nfl","tag-pivotal-season"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116642285466734516","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}