The Los Angeles Chargers have been accused of having a layup of an NFL playoff game against the Houston Texans on Saturday in the wild-card round.

While Chargers players and coaches have remained nothing but respectful during the buildup to the game, a former NFL head coach went as far as suggesting the Texans are a bye for the Chargers.

Understandably, Texans players don’t seem too thrilled with how the playoff matchup continues to get portrayed in the media.

Texans star running back Joe Mixon could only laugh when asked about the “bye” comments.

“I’m just here to let my helmets and shoulder pads do the talking,” Mixon said, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. “I’m not going to comment on that.”

Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud went a little more in-depth on the topic, relaying the setting to last year’s chatter before his team whipped the Cleveland Browns in the wild-card round, 45-14.

“Noise is always going to be there,” Stroud said, per Wilson. “It’s part of sports, always evident in this sport. And they said the same thing about us last year, so playing the Browns. I’m not saying it’s last year, but we went out there did what we had to do to win. And that’s ultimately what the playoffs come down to is like it’s 14 teams now and the microscope is on you.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, even though they have said and done the right things during the build to this one, the Texans have fully embraced all of the buzz as quality bulletin-board material.

As such, Jim Harbaugh and Co. have to go on the road after a strange week of practices and take Houston’s absolute best shot against players super-motivated to quiet the detractors