Why the Houston Texans are a legitimate Super Bowl threat

About this episode

<p>The FTN Football Almanac is as close as we have to religious text in the NFL analytics world. The 2026 version is set to drop shortly, so Robert Mays welcomed the founder of the Almanac, FTN's director of analytics Aaron Schatz, to this episode of The Athletic Football Show to highlight the most surprising nuggets from this year's edition.</p><br><p>0:00 Welcome to the show</p><p>2:01 Texans Super Bowl threat</p><p>12:30 2026 Super Bowl was almost impossible</p><p>18:50 Gap between Bears offense and defense</p><p>25:38 Patriots ease of schedule</p><p>32:10 Bengals, Cowboys playoff chances</p><p>38:34 Rams 13 personnel</p><p>41:36 Best/worst overside coverage corners</p><p>46:20 Jets defensive improvement</p><p>49:35 Steelers offense oddity</p><p>54:03 Jordan Love with vs without pressure</p><br><p>Host: Robert Mays</p><p>Executive Producer: Michael Beller</p><p>Senior Producer: Katy Duffy</p><p>Social Producer: Scott Krinch</p><br><p>Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social</p><p>Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays</p><br><p>Theme song: Haunted</p><p>Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs</p><p>Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>