Bengals vs. Texans: 3 Things Cincinnati Must Do to Upset Houston

The matchup has only been set in stone for a couple days at this point, but most people are already assuming that the Cincinnati Bengals are going to lose to the Houston Texans in the opening round of the AFC playoffs.

In fact, the spread is against the Bengals as well. Per Bovada, the Texans are favored in this game by three points.

It's easy to see why the Bengals are the underdog in this matchup. They did well to finish the regular season 9-7, but they had their struggles against the better teams in the AFC. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens both beat them twice, and the Texans beat them in Week 14.

But can the Bengals win this game?

You betcha. But only if they abide by these three keys to the game.

Get After T.J. Yates

Texans rookie quarterback T.J. Yates is going to be vulnerable when the Bengals and Texans step out onto the field on Saturday. He bruised his left shoulder in Houston's regular season finale against the Tennessee Titans, meaning he's going to have to play through some pain against the Bengals.

But that's not the only reason the Bengals should put the heat on Yates. They put the heat on Yates in their first matchup, and that resulted in five sacks and two turnovers. The Bengals were narrowly defeated by a point.

It may sound like a cliche, but the idea is for the Bengals to rattle the youngster. For all the credit we can give Yates for playing the part of a professional quarterback after taking over for Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, he hasn't yet proven that he can be the guy for the Texans.

Yates will be looking to prove he can be just that in the postseason, but he only will if the Bengals lay off him and let him get comfortable in the pocket. If they keep him under fire for the entirety of the game, they're going to be able to keep this game within striking distance.

Contain Arian Foster

Notice how I didn't write "stop" Arian Foster.

That's because the Bengals aren't going to. Foster is going to get upwards of 25 touches on Saturday, and he's not going to let the Texans down.

The Bengals have a solid rush defense, but it didn't look so great when we last saw it. Ray Rice torched the Bengals for 191 yards on the ground in Week 17, easily finding wide-open lanes between the tackles.

If Rice can find alleys like that, so can Foster. And just like Rice, Foster is a threat in the passing game too. 

The Bengals will be in serious trouble if Foster starts approaching 200 total yards, a figure that he is very much capable of getting to. But if the Bengals can limit him to 150 or even 100 total yards, they're going to put more and more pressure on Houston's other playmakers to make plays.

Andre Johnson will be a threat to be sure. But remember, the Bengals will be putting the heat on Yates. That alone will lessen Johnson's ability to take over this game.

Open Up the Playbook

Offensively, we generally don't see the Bengals do anything too fancy. Their MO is to pound away with the run and then hope that Andy Dalton can be efficient. This formula worked well enough for them during the regular season, so there was no reason for them to fix what wasn't broken.

Saturday's game is a perfect opportunity for Bengals OC Jay Gruden to change things up a bit. The Bengals are going up against a great defense, so their middle-of-the-road offense would be wise to try some trickeration.

The worst case scenario is failure, which will result in a wasted down and perhaps an extra opportunity for Houston's offense. The best case scenario is a big play (or two), and perhaps some cheap points.

In a game like this one, six or even three cheap points could prove to be just enough. The Texans are a better team than the Bengals when they're 100 percent healthy, but the Bengals proved that they are just as good as the wounded version of the Texans in their first matchup.

In order to be better than them, the Bengals are going to have to get creative.