The Kansas City Chiefs advanced to the divisional play-offs after a crushing 30-0 win over the Houston Texans in the Saturday's AFC wildcard clash.

It took just 11 seconds for the Chiefs to get on the board, with Knile Davis returning the opening kick-off of 106 yards for a touchdown as Kansas City set up a potential showdown against either reigning NFL champions the New England Patriots or the Denver Broncos.

The kick-off return by Davis was the longest in an AFC wildcard game, besting a 96-yard return by Jacksonville Jaguars' Maurice Jones-Drew over eight years ago, and was the first time in NFL history the play-offs started with a kick-off return. 

From then on the Chiefs were in control of the game, capitalising on another Texans turnover after Allen Bailey pushed Chris Clark into Brian Hoyer to cause a fumble.

The Texans finished with four turnovers by half-time, with the Chiefs leading 13-0 thanks to two field goals from Cairo Santos in the second quarter. 

However, the Chiefs suffered a blow in the third quarter when receiver Jeremy Maclin went down with a leg injury, before Texans' defensive end J.J. Watt suffered the same fate not long after.

Maclin's knee buckled as he was brought down by Brian Cushing and Whitney Mercilus, with fears the 27-year-old may have torn his anterior cruciate ligament once again - an injury that kept him out for the entire 2013 season when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"He's a huge player for us out," Chiefs' quarterback Alex Smith said of Maclin. "Anytime a player like that goes down, it's hard. He's such a good leader for us."

With Watt limping off the field for the home side, the Chiefs took a 20-0 lead soon after thanks to a nine-yard pass from Alex Smith to Chris Conley.

The Chiefs added to their dominant score-line in the fourth quarter with a five-yard Spencer Ware run and Santos kicking a third field goal.