One Massive Houston Texans X-Factor Against Chargers

The Houston Texans are set to take on the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC Wild Card on Saturday afternoon. Both teams are talented, but the Texans are not receiving much of a chance to beat the Chargers from the national media.

Already, Houston seems to have been written off.

Whether they have been written off due to the injuries they are dealing with, because Los Angeles is simply viewed as the better team, or because C.J. Stroud has not had the MVP-caliber season that was expected from him, the Texans are embracing the underdog mindset.

Stroud and company have full faith that they can win despite the adversity that they have gone through this season.

All of that being said, there is one massive X-Factor for Houston coming into this weekend's game.

Joe Mixon will need to do a lot of heavy lifting throughout the course of the game. He will need to run the football well to help open up the passing game for Stroud and company.

Throughout the course of the regular season, Mixon carried the football 245 times for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging a solid 4.1 yards per carry. He also caught 36 passes for 309 yards and a touchdown.

In order to pull off the win, the Texans need a huge game from their star running back.

Mixon is more than capable of having that kind of performance. He has shown time and time again throughout his career that he can step up and carry the workload for an offense. Against the Chargers, he needs to show more of the same.

Should Houston be able to run the football to begin the game, Stroud could see some favorable looks from the defense. Getting Stroud going early after establishing the run will be a major key.

None of that will happen if Mixon and the Texans' running game can't get going.

Against the run this season, Los Angeles gave up 117.5 yards per game. They ranked No. 14 against the run. Houston needs to produce around 150-175 yards on the ground.

It will be interesting to see if the Texans can get that kind of performance from Mixon. He's more than capable of putting together a big-time game, but it won't be easy.