It’s the NFL playoffs — it’s a whole new season — so nothing that happened during the regular season — both good and bad — applies anymore.

As such, then, the Browns’ runaway 36-22 victory over the host Houston Texans back on Dec. 24 — they roared to a 36-7 lead before foolishly putting it into cruise control — is nothing but a footnote as the teams get ready to meet again back in Texas on Saturday in the AFC wild-card round.

The Texans in that first game were without former Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was injured. Do you think the presence of the best rookie in the league would have made a difference? Well, yeah, just as the Browns would dearly miss the best golden age quarterback in the league in Joe Flacco.

Another thing that will be different — in the Browns’ favor — is that if they get out to a big lead, like the first time, they won’t take their foot off the gas pedal again. They remember the problems it caused, such as forcing head coach Kevin Stefanski to put all of his starters back into the game to quell the Texans’ late rally.

The Texans got embarrassed in their own building. They will do everything to avoid a recurrence of that. Pride is a powerful motivator.

Wide receiver Amari Cooper set a Browns record with 265 receiving yards in the first game. The Texans are bound and determined not to let that happen again.

Also different from the first game is the fact that the Browns, with Flacco, have become much more of a confident bunch who are afraid of nothing and believe that they simply can’t lose. They think the stars are all aligned in just the right way for them, the window of opportunity has been pried wide open and thus their time is now.

The Texans have increased confidence in themselves now, too, but theirs is more of a younger emotion in that they believe they’re playing with house money and that with Stroud, their best days are ahead of them.

Considering all these factors, then, Saturday’s game will likely be significantly different.

Steve King