AFC Wild Card: Were the Bengals That Bad, or Were the Texans That Good?

2011 has been a monumental year for the Houston Texans.  They won their first AFC South Division championship, they played in their first-ever home playoff game, and they also remained undefeated in the playoffs.

Seriously, the Houston Texans have never lost an NFL playoff game.

Sure, they are only 1-0 after their 31-10 thrashing of the Cincinnati Bengals in Reliant Stadium in the franchise's first playoff game, but they won nonetheless, and they did so in quite impressive fashion. 

So, were the Bengals worse than we thought they would be, or were the Houston Texans just that much better than everyone expected?  While that question can't be answered with a simple yes or no response, the condensed answer to that question is that the Texans looked like an entirely different team than most expected them to be.

Sure, the Bengals looked like they forgot to bring their defense against the running game, and quarterback Andy Dalton looked like a deer in headlights when he saw the Texans' blitz coming towards him.  That doesn't mean, however, that the Bengals were a terrible team.  Instead, it displayed just how good the Texans are, and it displayed that pretty clearly.

T.J. Yates looked less like the rookie quarterback he is and more like a calm, cool and collected veteran who was ready to lead his team to their first playoff victory Sunday afternoon against the Bengals.  Yates did nothing outside of what Houston needed him to do, ending the game without a turnover and throwing for 159 yards and a touchdown on only 11 attempts.

Most importantly, he didn't try to do more than he was capable of by not forcing passes, which allowed him to end the game without throwing a single interception.

While Yates' offensive performance was impressive, it wasn't the most impressive offensive performance of the day.  That honor goes to Texans running back Arian Foster, who rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on only 24 carries, earning himself a ridiculous yards-per-carry average of 9.7 yards. 

Foster isn't a newcomer to the 100-plus-yard category, but not too many teams have been able to produce that kind of rushing success against the Bengals' 10th-ranked rushing defense, which gives up only 104.7 yards per game.

Foster's performance didn't prove that the Bengals' defense was overrated or a product of playing weak competition.  It just showed how dominant and overwhelming the Texans' second-ranked rushing attack can be—even with a rookie quarterback under center.

The Bengals' defense, which ranked seventh in total production, knew Foster was going to be the focus of the Texans' offense, and they still couldn't stop him.  While Foster is an elite running back, the holes that the Texans' offensive line were opening up would have helped even an average running back earn at least 100 yards.

The Texans' offensive line also did an impressive job of protecting Yates, allowing only two sacks to a Bengals defense that averaged nearly three sacks (45 on the season) per game throughout the regular season.

More impressive than any offensive performance, however, was the absolute dominance of the Texans' defense.  Sure, Dalton looked like a wide-eyed rookie, but that wasn't because we overestimated his talent or his poise.  It was because the Texans' defense was in the Bengals' backfield all day long.

The Texans pressured Dalton for all 60 minutes of the game, sacking him four times and forcing him into throwing three interceptions—one of which was returned for a touchdown by Texans defensive end J.J. Watt.

I know the Texans defense is ranked second overall against the rush, but I don't think anyone expected them to look as dominant as they did against the run, allowing only 76 yards on 19 carries—well under the Bengals' average of 111.1 yards per game.  Cedric Benson was held to the lowest rushing production of his 2011, 1,000-plus-yard season, with only 14 yards in the game.

The Texans put together their first complete offensive and defensive performance since Week 12 against Jacksonville when they beat the struggling Jaguars, 39-7, and they couldn't have done so at a more perfect time.

With the Texans matching up with the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs, they are peaking at just the right time.  Sure, overcoming the Ravens' defense, which ranks second against the run and fourth against the pass, will be a more formidable challenge than the Cincinnati Bengals.  But, the Texans showed that they are better than many of us previously thought.

The reason why Houston beat Cincinnati wasn't because the Bengals were overrated or didn't deserve to be in the playoffs.  The Texans dominated the Bengals because they are just that good of a team, and they did a great job of putting their potential on display thus past Saturday.

Yes, Houston fans, the Texans are just that good.  They are better than a lot of "experts" thought—especially with a third-string quarterback running the show—but, all that matters is what takes place between the tackles, and the Texans are doing a great job of proving just that.

Watch out Baltimore.  You've got an energized, emotional and physical Texans team coming your way, and they are poised for a big upset.