The Texans have crossed off a lot of firsts this year. They had never posted a winning season, won a division title or played in the post-season, but all of those have been accomplished this year. Now the going gets really tough with a road-trip to Baltimore. That gives the Texans an opportunity to create another first for the franchise and beat the Ravens who they are 0-5 against since their inception.

They have already had one chance this year but were beaten 29-14 with then starting quarterback Matt Schaub sacked four times. Since then Schaub and his understudy Matt Leinhart have been ruled out for the season through injury, so they're now relying on rookie T.J. Yates to run the offence. Yates has so far down a fair job and played with composure and poise in the Texans first ever playoff win last week at home to Cincinnati.

That victory, however, was gained in a cocoon-like environment and this will be a very different examination in Baltimore. It's no secret the Texans intend to attempt to run their way to a Super Bowl appearance and their offensive line is very much geared around pushing forward and getting that ground game to the second level rather than protecting their quarterback. The Ravens line-backing corps, led by the veteran Ray Lewis, may well be hunting down Yates for much of the game.

Will the Texans be able to use their one-two running back punch Arian Foster and Ben Tate effectively though? The last time these two sides met Tate and Foster combined for only 90 yards and no touchdowns on 24 carries and a repeat of those numbers will spell certain defeat for the Texans.

One of the reasons the Ravens find themselves as the number two seed in the AFC is their unbeaten home record and the yardage production of their own running tour-de-force Ray Rice. At home Rice's numbers have been prolific having 210 touches for 1,053 yards and 10 touchdowns with 161 of those yards coming in the regular season match-up between these two. I expect Rice to pound the Texans and once they have been loosened up by the ground game they will still have to cope with much maligned Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and his major deep threat Torrey Smith. If Smith's receiving partner Anquan Boldin returns to the line-up then the Texans will have even more problems to cope with. Boldin like Rice played havoc with the Houston defence last time out hauling in eight receptions for 132 yards.

The Texans have without doubt had a breakout season and, if Schaub or even Leinhart had stayed healthy they may have had a chance here, but they need to look after Yates and that may force their game into becoming too one dimensional for a defence as stout as Baltimore's. It will be a tough attritional game but in match-ups of that ilk I'm always keen to favour the Ravens. The final piece in the jigsaw is this The Ravens beat four playoff teams at home this season: Pittsburgh, Houston, Cincinnati and San Francisco. The Ravens only gave up 51 points in the four games. Houston have their hands well and truly full on Sunday, facing a side that defends against playoff class like that.