NFL Playoff Predictions: Ochocinco Will Face Old Team After Bengals Beat Texans

The Chad Ochocinco era in New England has been an afterthought to this point, but it's about to get a lot more interesting.

The Patriots secured the No. 1 seed with their 49-21 romp over the Buffalo Bills and have earned the right to sit back and relax while watching Wild Card Weekend. They will play whoever advances with the lowest seed.

If the No. 6 seeded Cincinnati Bengals beat No. 3 Houston Texans, Andy Dalton and company will be off to Foxboro because they have the lowest seed in the AFC.

I like their chances.

Third-string Texans QB T.J. Yates has come back down to earth after a hot start. In his first two starts, Yates threw for 488 yards and three TDs with only one INT. In his last two games against bad teams (Panthers, Colts), he has thrown for 344 yards with zero TDs and two INTs before he was knocked out of Sunday's game after throwing for 44 yards.

He is expected to start on Saturday.

Teams have film on the fifth-round rookie now and he's not fooling anybody. Before Sunday, the team had failed to score over 20 points in five-straight games. No team is entering the postseason with less momentum than the beat-up Texans, who will be missing Mario Williams and will have a hobbled Andre Johnson.

The Bengals, who started the season dead-last in ESPN's power rankings, are a good team, but not a great team. They are 0-7 against teams in the playoffs, including a loss to the Texans, and 9-0 against teams that are now on vacation.

The Houston loss was brutal because of Yates' Tebow-esque fourth-quarter comeback, but Dalton showed that he can move the ball on their Top-Five defense.

As long as the linebackers don't overpursue Arian Foster and are able to contain him (you can't stop him), the Texans will be toast.

That means the Bengals, a year removed from the Carson Palmer and Ochocinco era, will have won their first playoff game since 1991.

Ochocinco has been an afterthought for much of the season, but you can bet he'll be begging his coaches for more playing time against his old team. Ochocinco is on a long list of players that have demanded a trade out of Cincinnati, and sticking it to management would be a dream come true for him.

Would the Pats risk as much? Would they oblige? Doubtful.

Tom Brady doesn't care about Ochocinco's homecoming, he cares about winning a playoff game for the first time since 2007. 

Regardless, it's a great story and a bit of a slap in the face to Ocho that the Bengals win their first playoff game in two decades in the year after he leaves the team.