Chiefs shut out Texans to open wild-card weekend

“Belichick also spoke highly of Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith: “(He) gets his team into the right play, gets them into a good situation and then lets the players execute them from there…. In other words, these teams are not separated by much.

The Cincinnati Bengals are looking like they miss Andy Dalton.

Brady’s 21 victories in the playoffs is a league-best mark among quarterbacks in NFL history who have made at least 10 starts.

The Bengals managed all of 56 yards in the first half.

The Texans totaled 226 yards. He’s got a good group of guys that he’ll spread it around to…. Steven Jackson led in rushing with 35 yards and one touchdown in 14 carries.

“We won the game, that’s all that matters”, he said. He is doubtful to return.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals played nice this time.

The pressure of the playoffs, and how it can affect players, was evident in the wild-card round.

It got worse for the Bengals as Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones were both penalized to advance the Steelers to within field goal range, providing Boswell with a chip shot for glory.

“But despite the loss of one of their leaders, someone who was named one of the Chiefs”™ six postseason captains, the resilient Chiefs kept on trucking.

The Chiefs are on to New England or Denver.

Kansas City awaited the result of Saturday night’s Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game to learn which AFC foe they’ll face next weekend. The Patriots are banged up, and the Chiefs know they can beat the Broncos.

Offensively, Kansas City must run the ball well.

The Patriots used that loss as motivation and embarked on a seven-game winning streak en route to winning 10 of their final 12 games and Super Bowl XLIX. Smith is very familiar with Tom Brady having played against him for four seasons when he was with the Miami Dolphins. Dontari Poe jumped on the recovery, giving Kansas City prime field position when the game was still up for grabs.

Kansas City crushed Houston 30-0, but the Chiefs are awaiting a Sunday MRI on wide receiver Jeremy Maclin who left with a right knee injury.

There was no immediate word on the extent of Maclin’s injury.

Although the severity of the injury is unclear, Maclin has already suffered two ACL tears – most recently in 2013 with the Philadelphia Eagles and in 2009 during his college days at Missouri.

The Chiefs are a determined team on a streak, but the Patriots undoubtedly still feel that shame from last season and a strong desire to prove a healthy Patriots team can take any opponent. In the receiving end, James White had 63 yards in two receptions while Jackson added 20 yards. However, he didn’t send a vote of confidence for Hoyer, a backup much of his career, as the team’s QB next season.

The Texans were so flat and erstwhile Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer was so generous that the Chiefs were never really tested on Saturday.