The 10-year-old Texans (11-6) won their first playoff game, and now have the daunting task of facing the Ravens (12-4) on their home field at 1 p.m. Sunday. Baltimore is 8-0 at M&T Bank Stadium this season, including a 29-14 win over Houston in Week 6.
New York's 24-2 win over Atlanta on Sunday was the Giants' first home playoff victory since a 41-0 rout of Minnesota for the 2000 NFC title.
Atlanta's last playoff win was in 2005 over St. Louis when Michael Vick still was the Falcons' quarterback. They now have lost three straight postseason games under coach Mike Smith and quarterback Matt Ryan.
Hall of Fame
When the list of Hall of Fame finalists was released on Saturday, attention focused on those who, like Bill Parcells, made it in their first year of eligibility.
But there were some notable exclusions from the list, including former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, ex-Chargers coach Don Coryell and running backs Roger Craig and Terrell Davis.
Between four and seven enshrinees will be announced the day before the Super Bowl, on Feb. 5, and will be inducted in August in the Hall's 50th class.
Coaching carousel
ESPN's Chris Mortensen said that new Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie may consider replacing coach Hue Jackson with Packers defensive assistant Winston Moss.
Moss, the Packers' linebackers coach since 2006, interviewed for the Raiders' vacant head-coach position in 2009, but the job went to Tom Cable.
Josh McDaniels is returning to the New England Patriots to take over as offensive coordinator next season for Bill O'Brien, who was introduced Saturday as Penn State's new coach, ESPN.com said.
No Fun League
The NFL refused permission for Siena College to live-stream the Giants game.
Siena wanted to show the playoff live on the scoreboard in its home arena Sunday afternoon to entice fans to its game against Niagara. Both games had 1 p.m. starts.
Siena officials say the NFL told the school it would be violating the league's copyright interests by simulcasting the game.
The Giants have a large following in the Albany area since the team has held its training camp in the city 15 times in the last 16 summers.
Contact staff writer Don McKee at dmckee@phillynews.com.
Read his blog, "Incites,"
at www.philly.com/incites.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
