HOUSTON — The Texans know their next opponent in the AFC playoffs and where the game will be played. They'll travel to Baltimore later this week to take on the No. 1 seed Ravens.
The Ravens don’t play home games under a retractable roof like the Texans do, so the showdown will be out in the elements. And what will those elements be? We asked KHOU 11 meteorologist Chris Ramirez to give us a Baltimore forecast for Saturday when the game will be played and here’s what he told us.
“By the end of the week, another winter weather system will sweep across the country bringing the chance for snow in the northeastern U.S for the end of the work week,” he said. “While this will not affect Houston and Texas, our spirits will be in Baltimore as the Texans take on the Ravens. While snowfall in Baltimore will end by Friday night, temperatures will remain cold into the weekend. Kickoff will be at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and temperatures in Baltimore will struggle to make it above freezing with highs in the low 30s. Skies will be partly cloudy with winds out of the northeast gusting from 25-30 mph. This will cause wind chill values, or ‘feels like,’ temperatures to range from 15-18 degrees. Temperatures will fall into the 20s late Saturday evening.”
So there you have it. The teams will be dealing with a lot of cold, but it’s nothing new to some of the Texans' stars. After all, C.J. Stroud played in college at Ohio State in an open stadium and Nico Collins played outdoors at Michigan. Running back Devin Singletary is also used to the cold. He played most of his career in Buffalo.
Texans' Coach DeMeco Ryans addressed the cold at a news conference Monday. He said the Texas freeze this week is good preps for this Saturday. Here's what he had to say before he knew where they'd play this weekend.
"There will be cold weather," Ryans said. "Gracious that we have cold weather here in Houston this week. It comes at the right time for us to be able to go out and practice outside in the cold weather. I don’t think you get used to it. I would say, no matter what the conditions are for a game, you have three and half hours to suck it up. Whatever that weather is, you have to deal with it and be your best in that moment. You’re not the only one dealing with the conditions – the other team – they’re dealing with the conditions as well. It’s no excuse, no matter what the weather is, where we have to go. Like man, you have to be excited about the opportunity to play and whatever it is, you suck it up for three hours and you play your best.”
Baltimore opened at a 9.5-point favorite. The winner moves on to face the winner of the Kansas City-Buffalo game on Sunday.