AFC In Flux: Where The Texans' Divisional Hopes Stand After A Productive NFL Week 12

The Houston Texans already handled their business on Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills to improve to 6-5 on the season prior to Sunday afternoon's slate of games. As of today, they have positioned themselves to be tied with the Ravens (6-5) and Steelers (6-5), as well as being only one game back of the Jaguars (7-4), Chargers (7-4) and Bills (7-4) for an AFC Wildcard spot.

As the ninth seed, the Texans are out of the playoffs by two spots. However, they are in line to receive a lot of positioning help due to all the other playoff contenders having to play each other within the coming weeks. Then again, winning the AFC South would also be a feasible postseason pathway if the Texans were to catch a few breaks next Sunday afternoon.

The big blue elephant in the room would be the Indianapolis Colts (8-3), who are the current AFC South Division leaders and next opponents on Houston's schedule.

Indianapolis has been running roughshod over the division and greater AFC since their 33-8 butt kicking of the Dolphins in week one. Since then, they have gone 7-2 and have traded for former Jets cornerback Ahmed "Sauce" Gardner to help tighten up their secondary for the stretch run.

To Houston's benefit, though, the Colts have hit a bit of a rough patch over their last three games. They have lost two of their last three contests to fellow playoff contenders in the Steelers and Chiefs. Truth be told, they arguably should've lost last week against the Falcons also, thus theoretically giving them three potential losses in a row at a time where solidifying their dominance should be the priority.

That struggle comes at the perfect time for the Texans, seeing as though they are winners of their last three in a row and will be receiving star quarterback C.J. Stroud and impact defensive Jalen Pitre both back from concussions sustained in week nine against the Denver Broncos.

They also have had the services of one of the best NFL defenses of the last 10 years, as well as an offense that seems to be finding itself and executing in the red zone a lot more as of late.

On the Colts' side, they now possess the league's second-best offense at 384.0 yards/game and 31.0 points/game. Although their defense is a bit of a weak spot still, being ranked 22nd in the NFL in total yards (342.7/game), 27th against the pass (245.4/game), seventh against the rush (97.4), and ninth in scoring (20.8).

In this clash of AFC South titans (no pun intended), the immediate playoff implications are palpable. If the Texans were to beat Indianapolis next Sunday, they would be only one game back of the division lead and in possession of the tiebreaker advantage over the Colts.

In that scenario, the Texans would possibly be facing the Colts again on Sunday, January 4th in week 18 for the AFC South crown. By then, Houston would've faced the Chiefs, Cardinals, Raiders and Chargers. On the other side, the Colts would've seen the Jaguars, Seahawks, 49ers and Jaguars (again).

The Texans have won the division back to back four times in franchise history. Never before have they won the division three times in a row.

If Stroud and the crew have truly pieced things together and have established an offensive identity, the Texans could begin their final six games with a bang next Sunday afternoon and walk out of Lucas Oil Stadium as winners of four in a row and seven of their last nine.

Do you think the road the playoffs starts with a win in Indianapolis next Sunday? Let us know in the comment section or on the official Texans Roundtable X account (@Texans_RTB)!