Texans at Patriots

— 3:30 p.m. Central today, CBS

LINE - Patriots by 9 1/2 LAST MEETING New England beat Houston 42-14 on Dec. 10, 2012.

LAST WEEK Houston beat Cincinnati 19-13. New England had bye.

RANKINGS Texans: offense (7), defense (7); Patriots: offense (1), defense (25) NOTES Houston is in playoffs second consecutive season after missing them in first nine. Texans RB Arian Foster’s 425 yards are most in first three playoff games by any player in NFL history. His 140 yards in wild-card victory over Cincinnati made him only player with at least 100 yards rushing in each of first 3 playoff games. .QB Matt Schaub threw for more than 4,000 yards for third time in 4 seasons. In past 5 games, starting with loss to New England, he’s thrown 1 touchdown pass and 4 interceptions. WR Andre Johnson led AFC with 1,598 yards receiving on 112 catches. ... New England is AFC East champ and earned No. 2 seed by beating Miami 28-0 in regular-season finale after AFC South champion Texans lost to Indianapolis 28-16, dropping Houston to No. 3 seed and costing it a bye. Texans and Patriots allowed same number of points, 20.7 per game. Patriots led NFL in scoring with 34.8 average, Texans eighth with 26. Tom Brady is 6-6 in last 12 playoff games after starting 10-0. WR Wes Welker tied for second in NFL with 118 catches, leads league over past six seasons with 672. RB Stevan Ridley had career-high 1,263 yards rushing in second season, seventh in league and one spot behind Foster’s 1,424. Ridley’s 84 first downs second to Foster’s 88 in AFC.

Sports, Pages 24 on 01/13/2013

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