FOXBORO — A lot of experts picked the Houston Texans to upset the New England Patriots in Sunday’s AFC Divisional Round matchup at Gillette Stadium.
This confidence in the Texans largely stemmed from their defense, which ranked as one of the NFL’s best in the regular season and dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Wild Card Round.
The players on the New England Patriots defense heard all the praise for the Texans defense this week, and it motivated them to show everyone that they, too, have an elite unit.
And after another dominant playoff performance in a 28-16 win, the Patriots defense shouldn’t have too many doubters left.
“Definitely. It fueled the whole defense,” Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams said postgame when asked about all the talk surrounding the Texans defense. “Ain’t nobody been talking about our defense all year. We’ll see what they got to say today.”
The Patriots defense put on a masterclass against the Texans.
This group intercepted Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud four times in the first half, including a pick-6 by Marcus Jones that snatched momentum away from Houston at a time when New England’s offense was really struggling. Veteran cornerback Carlton Davis intercepted Stroud twice.
“They had a really good D-line and they were good on the back end,” Stroud said postgame. “You know, the pick-6, he made a heck of a play. I tried to make a play and had a guy open, but he hit my arm and made a great play.”
The Patriots finished with five takeaways (four interceptions and one fumble), sacked Stroud three times, pressured him consistently and stuffed the run.
Houston racked up just 241 yards of total offense and managed only two field goals in the second half. The Texans ran for a measly 48 yards on 22 carries (2.2 per attempt). The Patriots defense forced 22 plays of zero or negative yards in the first half, which, according to ESPN Insights, is the most by any team in a playoff first half since 2000.
Stroud could have actually finished with more interceptions, as the Patriots defensive backs blanketed his wide receivers all game and gave him almost no margin for error.
“Every week, we try to come in and dominate, knowing they do have a great defense over there,” Williams said. “But in our mind, it was our defense vs. their defense to see who could make more plays and (force) more turnovers, stopping the run, getting the ball back to our offense and letting them go make a play.”
Through two playoff games, the Patriots defense has allowed only one touchdown, forced six turnovers, sacked the opposing quarterback nine times and tallied 66 quarterback pressures.
After struggling to prevent teams from scoring touchdowns in the red zone for much of the regular season, the Chargers and Texans combined to score only one TD in six red zone trips over the last two weeks. New England’s bend-but-don’t-break red zone defense has been an encouraging development for this team of late.
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The Patriots are also blitzing at a much higher rate in the playoffs (44 percent) than the regular season (28 percent), per ESPN Insights. Opposing quarterbacks are completing just 38 percent of their passes for 3.4 yards per attempt with one touchdown and two interceptions when New England’s defense has blitzed in the playoffs.
“They’re playing well together. I feel like they’re complementing each other, and our turnovers are created by more than one guy,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said of his defense. “There’s some great efforts. But it’s somebody tipping a pass or it’s somebody that’s putting pressure that’s usually helping — or (defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr) is dialing something up that kind of changes the look.
“We’re taking advantage of our opportunities. And that’s what it’s going to take in the playoffs. You’ve got to take care of the ball and turn it over.”
The Patriots need one more win to reach Super Bowl LX, but getting there won’t be an easy task. The No. 1 seed Denver Broncos, who also have a top-tier defense, will be the Patriots’ opponent in the AFC Championship Game next week.
Williams, who played a key role on an Eagles defense that dominated Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl last season, was asked after Sunday’s win if the Patriots have a championship-level defense right now.
His response? “Yes, definitely.”
Why does he think this defense is championship caliber?
“We’ve got dogs on every level of our team,” Williams explained. “Everybody’s doing their job at a high level. We all on the string and communication. Everything is just working together. Our coach is putting us in position to make plays, and we just execute at a high level. That’s all we need.”
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