Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Predicted Texans' Rise Months Ago

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh saw great things in the Houston Texans' future before most others did.

Ahead of Saturday's Divisional Round showdown, the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens are in drastically different situations in regard to expectations.

After coming up short in the playoffs repeatedly, quarterback Lamar Jackson the Ravens are facing intense pressure to finally break through in the postseason. On the other hand, rookie sensation C.J. Stroud and the Texans are playing with house money. No one expected Houston to be in this spot, especially after three straight seasons with fewer than five wins.

Except, someone did. After the two teams meeting in Week 1, a game Baltimore won 25-9, Ravens coach John Harbaugh predicted the Texans would do great things long before many others did.

Texans vs. Ravens

"Really proud of the guys and really proud of the win against a good Houston team," Harbaugh said in September. "I've said this before about certain teams early in the season – 'They're going to win a lot of football games this year.' Mark it down. You'll see. That's a good, young football team."

It took a while for the Texans to find their footing, as they started 3-4 with a loss to the league-worst Carolina Panthers. After that, though, Houston won four of its next five games while Stroud showed that he is for real. At that point, fans and media begun to see that the Texans were cooking something.

If there were any remaining doubts, Saturdays' blowout victory over the Cleveland Browns, in which Stroud nearly finished with a perfect passer rating while becoming the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game, should have erased them.

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