The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that, a review of the Divisional Round Weekend:
Arguably the Worst 2nd Quarter for the Offense this Season: That 2nd Quarter of the Division Round game will haunt everyone associated with the Houston Texans, from the players to coaches to front office and fans. Houston entered that Quarter only trailing
7-3, and it would start so well. They had just recovered a Drake Maye fumble at the NE 27. Six plays later, Houston took a 10-7 lead on a Stroud-to-Kirk 10-Yard TD Pass. Houston even managed to force the Patriots to punt the next drive. Then, it all falls apart. The next play, Stroud, under heavy NE pressure, threw his second INT, a pick-six to Marcus Jones on a horrid throw. The following possession, Houston got the ball out to their 36-yard line, and Stroud had an accurate throw for once to Xaviar Hutchinson, who let the pass deflect off his hands and into the arms of Craig Woodson.
While the defense did not surrender a 1st down on the following drive, Houston did not give them much of a rest, as Stroud missed on 3 straight passes. New England cashed in on the drive with a Maye-to-Diggs 7-yard TD pass. That put New England up 21-10. The next drive, Houston did move the ball into Patriots’ territory, but then Stroud fired his 3rd INT of the quarter on a poorly thrown ball to Hutchinson. That Houston did not allow the Patriots to score on this drive and the next drive is a testament to that defense, but that offense…yuck. In the 2nd Quarter, Houston executed 22 plays for 50 total yards. Stroud went 5 of 14 for 49 yards, 1 TD and 3 INTs. The team rushed 7 times for 1 yard. Houston committed one False Start penalty and had a 20-yard DPI call in their favor. The offense surrendered as many points (7) as the defense (7). Again, that the Patriots were only up 11 at the break must go to the efforts of the Houston D. For a winnable game, this quarter is going to make for a lot of sleepless nights this offseason.
Defensive Domination: If you love defense, then this was your game. 8 total turnovers (5 INTs), 8 total sacks, 15 TFLs, teams a combined 10 for 31 on 3rd downs, a defensive score, 20 passes defended, 13 punts, teams a collective 2 of 5 in the Red Zone and neither team gained more than 250 total yards. This is to say nothing of all the defensive pressures and defensive win rates likely to come out of this game. For the Houston fan, that the defense showed up is no shock. However, much credit must be given to the Patriots’ defenders. For the New England fans, you could be forgiven if you had flashbacks to some of the early 2000s Belichick teams with how they thwarted the road team.
Solid Special Teams: While the offensive struggles and the defensive prowess dominated the narrative of the game, the Texans did bring their special teams to this game. At the very least, they didn’t cost the squad like they did last season at Kansas City. Fairbairn kicked well in difficult conditions. Townsend generally punted well (5 punts for a 58.8 average and 1 inside the 20), save for an early punt where he outkicked the coverage and set up a long punt return by Marcus Jones. Tremon Smith had an excellent play to pin the Patriots deep inside their 5, giving Houston one last effective chance to stay in the game. The kick returns/punt returns weren’t game-breaking, but they didn’t cost Houston. If the offense had not had their nightmare day, perhaps this unit could have been enough for Houston to win.
THE DECISIVE PLAY:
5:30, 3rd Quarter: HOU Ball at the NE 17, 2nd and 8. Woody Marks runs for no gain off right tackle, fumbles, recovered by Chris Woodson.
As [DURGA] awful as that 2nd Quarter was for Houston, they were only down 11 to start the 2nd half. Houston cut it to a one-score game (21-13) on their opening possession, albeit with a short FG after a massive Pats pass deflection on a 3rd and short inside the Red Zone. The rested defense got back on to the field, where Will Anderson Jr. got a strip sack of Maye, giving Houston the ball inside the NE 33. Houston drove the ball inside the NE 20, and with one TD could undo all of the bad of the 2nd Quarter and flip the pressure all on to the Pats. To start this play, Stroud went with a shotgun handoff to Marks, but immediate interior pressure from the Patriots DL line forced Marks to bounce to the outside right. In that chaos, the ball got punched out and advanced forward to Woodson, who collected another Texans’ turnover at the NE 12. While Houston would force a punt and they did score a subsequent FG to cut the game to 21-16, that lost scoring opportunity after getting a short field seemed to take something out of the Texans. In retrospect, a TD would have been massive as there was the chance to tie, which Ryans would likely have taken, but even another FG there would have been a major momentum boost. While the 2nd Quarter was where Houston fell behind, their errors in the 3rd, primarily this play, ensured that Houston could not win.
FUN WITH NUMBERS:
7: Total Number of CJ Stroud turnovers these playoffs: In two combined playoff games, CJ Stroud had 5 INTs and 2 lost fumbles. Those numbers could have been much worse. That is a reason why the Texans just logged their 7th straight Divisional Playoff Round loss. Of those, this might be the most painful as it seemed arguably the most likely one that Houston could and should have won. The number 7 is not popular with Houston right now. For what it is worth, opponents only scored 10 combined points on those 7 turnovers, but that is cancelled out with two of those turnovers in the opponent’s Red Zone, costing Houston critical points, especially here.
0:00: Amount of time that Houston has led in the 2nd half of their Divisional Round Playoff Games: Real easy to go 0-7 in games where you never have a 2nd Half lead.
GAME BALLS:
DE Will Anderson Jr.: (3 Tackles (all solo), 3 Sacks, 2 TFLs, 2 FFs) He and Danielle Hunter gave the Patriots all they could handle in pass protection. Anderson is also the franchise leader in postseason sacks (8.0), overtaking Whitney Mercilus (6.5) in this game.
CB Kamari Lassiter: (5 Tackles (4 solo), 3 PDs). His pass defense on Stefon Diggs in the 2nd Quarter, where he offered tight coverage and pass deflections did much to keep Houston in the game.
PK Ka’imi Fairbairn: (3/3 FGs, 1/1 XPs). Rebounded well from last year’s debacle at Kansas City.
Patriots LB Coach/Acting DC Zak Kuhr: His squad has only surrendered 1 TD in 2 playoff games, to go along with 9 sacks and 6 turnovers. Expect a lot of calls to make him a full-time DC somewhere in 2026.
SHOULD BE FORCED TO LISTEN ON REPEAT TO BEN AFFLECK’S LAME JOKE ATTEMPTS AT THE ROAST OF TOM BRADY WHILE CLEANING UP ALL THE RANCID REMAINS OF SAM ADAMS AND CLAM CHOWDER AT GILLETTE STADIUM.
QB CJ Stroud: Going to be the longest offseason of this young man’s life.
WR Xaviar Hutchinson:As bad as Stroud was, Hutchinson does not escape blame. On the 2nd Stroud INT of the 2nd Quarter, he botched a catchable ball. Arguably that INT did much to destroy Stroud’s confidence for the rest of that Quarter. Hutchinson had some other drops on in the game that reinforce his addition to this roster.
Texans’ Interior Offensive Line: Maybe lost in all of the Stroud meltdown focus is that the Texans interior provided no help to Stroud either. Houston’s RBs only got 37 yards on 20 carries, and a lot of the pressure that bedeviled Stroud came from the interior. Sure the team had some major injuries, but the line did nothing to help Stroud.
Thus concludes the 24th season in franchise history. Once again, we will “wait until next year” for Houston to once again try to bring a Lombardi trophy home, or at least, a chance to actually get to a conference title game.
