Here are some final thoughts on last week's wild-card action, and my forecast on the upcoming divisional round.

Final thoughts — Texans over Bengals

I thought it t was precisely the style of combat the Bengals wanted — a murky, slow-paced thing that would allow them to hang within striking distance all afternoon. Their defense withstood 420 yards of methodic Texans offense — including the 100-plus in rushing yards they anticipated conceding to Arian Foster, the classy, slashing tailback.

But the Bengals bit down hard inside the red zone and held the Houston attack to a quartet of field goals and a single touchdown drive. They even got the haymaker, the stunning defensive score you need to pull off this kind of road upset — CB Leon Hall robbing Matt Schaub on an out pattern and racing 21 yards for an early touchdown. Blend in seven untimely Texans penalties and, yes indeed, the upset formula was cooking right along.

Except, for the Bengals to prevail, the Cincy offense also needed to throw some fists into the fight at some point. It never did. The Andy Dalton-to-A.J. Green connection didn’t get going until the second half, but that was all right because it was only a 9-7 contest at intermission and 16-10 at the close of the third quarter. Houston DE J.J. Watt did all he could to wreck the game, but there were still plays to be made and Dalton’s passing never found a snappy cadence. Once again, the playoff setting was too big for him. The last Cincinnati drive died at the Houston 36, Dalton passing for eight yards to WR Marvin Jones … when the Bengals needed 11.