OWINGS MILLS — The Ravens finally know their opponent for the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
With the Buffalo Bills 31-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, the Ravens will play the fourth-seeded Houston Texans on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at M&T Bank Stadium.
As the top seed, the Ravens were waiting for the lowest remaining seed to emerge. That would have been the seventh-seeded Steelers, whose game against Buffalo game was postponed from Sunday to Monday at 4:30 p.m. because of a snowstorm in upper New York.
The Ravens defeated the Texans, 25-9, in the regular-season opener. The defense limited the Texans to 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) on third down and 1-for-4 (25 percent) on fourth down, while holding them without a touchdown on two red-zone drives.
Ravens running back Justice Hill posted his first career multi-touchdown game, scoring on a pair of 2-yard runs. Rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers had nine receptions for 78 yards while adding two rushes for 9 yards.
Houston is a much better team now, and rookie C.J. Stroud has made tremendous strides as a quarterback.
Harbaugh expects to see a different Houston team than the one the Ravens played in Week 1.
“[The Houston Texans] are 17 games different,” Harbaugh said. “I’d say [it’s] coaching [and] experience – all the things that a good team does that continues to improve throughout the season. They’ve done a really good job of that. Obviously, they’re very well-coached. They have really good young players [and] some veteran players as well. They’ve continued to improve throughout [the season].”
The Ravens began preparing for the Texans once they defeated the Cleveland Browns, 45-14, in a dominant performance on Saturday.
“We’ve been dialed in on Houston since the end of that game [against the Browns],” Harbaugh said.
The Bills will host quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, who beat the Dolphins, 26-7, on a frigid Saturday night. It will be the first time Mahomes plays a postseason game on the road.
