The New England Patriots are on to the divisional round after winning their first playoff game since Super Bowl LIII. Now, they welcome a top ranked Houston Texans defense to Foxborough with a trip to the AFC
Championship Game on the line.
With that, let’s get into this week’s #PostPulpit Mailbag.
What is the best offensive game plan for this Texans defense? McDaniels has schemed against many great defenses one being seattles legion of boom in a previous Super Bowl. Is it getting the running backs out in space with short passing game, using bunch formations for possible pick plays, and using RPO with Maye if the Texans defensive front is too aggressive? – SouthernPatriot
We’ve seen Drake Maye play well this sesaon against very strong defenses. What is the key to the offense clicking and finding room to put up points against maybe the best DL we have faced all season? – LandenPatz1
Nothing will be easy against a Texans defense that ranks near or at the top of the league in every metric you can find. But due to their talented personnel — which features studs at all three levels — Houston largely lines up and plays their style, not changing the picture on opposing offenses like the Chargers’ multiple defense.
For Houston, that style lives out of nickel defense (due to the elite safety Jalen Pitre) and majors in cover-three and quarters. They do play man-to-man on roughly 30 percent of their snaps, however, and could uptick that usage this week after New England’s struggles last week.
“I wouldn’t say one of the toughest [defenses to prepare for],” Kayshon Boutte said. “At the end of the day we know we’re going to get man coverage, we got to beat it.”
As good as the unit is, Houston not straying from their style should open the door for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to show up on Sunday and win the chess match.
As for specific areas McDaniels and Drake Maye can take advantage, the Texans rank 14th in the league in allowing explosive passes — and were close to giving up several downfield shots in their wild card victory but the Steelers could not capitalize. Additionally, Houston’s primary four-man rush opens the rushing lanes for scrambles — where they ranked 31st in yards per scramble (9.6) on the season.
Both areas are strengths of Drake Maye’s game. But, noting will come easy as Will Anderson, Danielle Hunter, and their talented interior players will need to be blocked to push the ball downfield. Maye is also aware of Azeez Al-Shaair’s ability to lay the boom along the second level when he escapes the pocket.
It would also not be a surprise to see McDaniels use plenty of the six offensive line package that has become a key part of New England’s offense down the stretch — and helped them push the ball downfield against LA. The Steelers broke off a pair of plus plays to open the game out of their six o-line package to eventually force Houston to match two of the last four jumbo looks in base defense. With one less defensive back on the field, Houston’s pass defense has plummeted statistically throughout the year.
The Texans defense, which will be the best New England has seen all year, is terrific. But so is Maye and McDaniels. It should be a great battle.
Might this be the week we raise our screen game from the dead to offset the Texans’ aggressive front? – Arschloch
Could definitely see the Patriots also dipping back into the screen package to try and use the Texans’ aggressiveness against them. That’s been a weakness for them allowing a league-high nine explosive plays to and ranking 30th in EPA against screen passes this season.
Do you use Ben Brown or Jared Wilson for next game? – Cadishack22
I would have been inclined to stick with Brown last week after Wilson missed the final two regular season games with a concussion. At this point, I’d probably stick with Wilson and hope his performance against the Chargers was due to the time off and the rookie playing in his first playoff action. I’d expect that’s what they do this week.
Still wrestling with the same question all year: Diggs has spectacular advanced stats, why is he still on the field for only about 60-70% of plays? – fdsafdsa
He is 32 and coming off a torn ACL, so managing his workload was likely part of it throughout the regular season. His 40 snaps last Sunday marked the first time Diggs led the receiver group in a game all season. New England also plays a lot of bigger personnel packages which asks their receivers to block, which has led to those snaps going more towards players like Mack Hollins and more recently Efton Chism III.
Short Question: When did you realize that this team was a real contender? – 1stStateSoxFan
The Buffalo game. Not only the fact that they won, but how Drake Maye played throughout the second half and down the stretch to lead his first game-winning drive on a primetime stage. If you’re QB plays like that — which the belief here was high that Maye would continue to do so — being a real contender was in the cards.
So, assuming we win this week against Houston, who would be the better opponent to face in the AFC title game? Hosting the Bills, or going to Denver? – bbwasright
I’d always side with a home game so will go Buffalo. Feels like unfinished business after the collapse back in Week 15.
That’s all for this week’s #PostPulpit mailbag. If you have questions you’d liked to be answered next week, submit them online in our weekly submission post or on Twitter using #PostPulpit. Make sure to be following @iambrianhines and @PatsPulpit as well.
