Promising game plan: Texans vow to come after Mahomes in showdown with Chiefs

Patrick Mahomes does Patrick Mahomes things. When he starts on Saturday against Houston, it won’t be his first high-ankle sprain rodeo. The Texans are still aiming their lassos squarely in his direction.

“This is the top team in the league right now,” said Texans defensive tackle Tim Settle a day before Andy Reid announced Mahomes would start against Houston. “But this O-line definitely has their struggles and I feel like we can take advantage of that. We’ve got an elite D-line. Pat’s a little banged up, so I don’t know if he’s gonna play or not, but I hope he’s mobile enough because we’re comin’ to Arrowhead. Pat better make good decisions. I ain’t making no threats; I’m making promises.”

That elite D-line includes Danielle Hunter, who enters Week 16 second in the league with 12 sacks, only ½ sack behind Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson (12½). Opposite Hunter is Will Anderson and his 10½ sacks. In fact, Hunter and Anderson are the NFL’s only teammates who each have registered double digits in that category and Houston (9-5) ranks second in the league with 45 sacks. Meanwhile, across the line of scrimmage on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, NBC), the Chiefs have allowed defenses to hit Mahomes 102 times, more than any quarterback in the league.

While the much-maligned Chiefs offensive line has taken the brunt of criticism, Houston’s offensive line might be most vulnerable this week. And where the Texans are most vulnerable, on the interior, Kansas City is most dangerous. Not only that, the Chiefs’ best defensive player isn’t about to let George Karlaftis lead the defending back-to-back Super Bowl champions in sacks.

“We’ve got three games in the year. George is at seven, I’m at five,” said All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones. “Missed one last week; they gave half a sack to George. … Cincinnati Bengals game, haven’t gotten over that. I’m going to let it go. I’m going to take the higher road.

“I’m still going to lead the group in sacks, though.”

Kansas City (13-1) needs this game for one critical reason, and Mahomes knows it. If the Chiefs can find a way to score just one more point on Saturday, they’ll take an important step toward a coveted first-round bye.

For more information on the Texans and Chiefs, visit the Houston and Kansas City team pages at ProFootballPost.com.