The New England Patriots and Houston Texans were engaged in a slugfest on Sunday, with the home team ultimately emerging victoriously. Led by an opportunistic defense as well as an offense that made enough
plays in the end, head coach Mike Vrabel and his team celebrated a 28-16 win to set up a meeting with the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.
Here is a Patriots-centric view at some of the key moments of the game.
Moment No. 1: Fourth down touchdown
After both teams exchanged three-and-outs to open the game, the Patriots were able to find some offensive rhythm on their second drive. However, they still had to make a decision on 4th-and-1 from the Houston 28-yard line: keep the offense on the field against one of the best defenses in football or go for a long field goal attempt?
Mike Vrabel went with the first option, and his team proved him right.
Rarely using the blitz, the Texans opted to send an extra rusher Drake Maye’s way. The second-team All-Pro made them pay, hitting wideout DeMario Douglas on a slant in the vacated area. With nobody deep, Douglas was able to take the pass into the end zone for the game’s first points.
Moment No. 2: Turnover exchange Pt. 1
Carlton Davis entered the divisional round without having intercepted a pass this season. However, the offseason addition ended his pick-less streak in spectacular fashion in the late first quarter.
Managing to get his knee down just in bounds to complete the catch, Davis took advantage of what was a bad play on quarterback C.J. Stroud’s part. Unfortunately for the Patriots, they were not able to capitalize on the turnover and just two plays later gave the ball right back to their opponent.
On what looked more like a busted play than a designed run, Drake Maye decided to take off and run. However, the second-year QB got the ball punched out at the end — his second fumble in three plays — and Houston fell on it. Unlike the Patriots, they managed to turn the takeaway into points and scored a touchdown off the short field.
Moment No. 3: Pick-six
Marcus Jones is one of the top playmakers in the NFL, and he showed up big again in the early second quarter. With the Patriots trailing by three and Houston having built some momentum, he got his hands on an errant C.J. Stroud pass for New England’s second interception of the game — one that gave his team the lead again.
Jones was able to finish the play in style, returning the ball 26 yards for a touchdown. He is not the only player worthy of recognition: pass rusher K’Lavon Chaisson made the assist by putting the initial pressure on Stroud to force the bad pass in the first play.
Moment No. 4: Interception bonanza
C.J. Stroud was having a bad first half, and the aforementioned interceptions to Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones would not remain his only ones. On the very next drive after his pick-six, the Texans’ quarterback threw an INT to Patriots safety Craig Woodson.
Later in the second quarter, with the Patriots having increased their lead at that point — we’ll talk about that in a second — the AFC East champions were able to get their hand on another one of Stroud’s passes. For the second time in the half, Carlton Davis came away with the football.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, their offense was unable to capitalize on any of the first half interceptions. Outside of Marcus Jones’ pick-six, the team got zero points out of them.
Moment No. 5: Pin-point accuracy
The Patriots offense struggled for much of the day, but it did get into a nice rhythm in the late first half and between Stroud’s third and fourth interceptions. With two long passes to Kayshon Boutte setting the stage, Drake Maye hit Stefon Diggs for a 7-yard touchdown.
Thanks to the touchdown, the Patriots were able to give themselves some breathing room and take an 11-point lead into the locker room at the half.
Moment No. 6: Turnover exchange Pt. 2
The second half did not start the way the Patriots would have hoped. Not only did Houston show some life by driving down the field and scoring three points, Drake Maye also lost his second fumble of the day on the ensuing possession.
While the pendulum had swung the Texans’ way at that point, it did not take long to move in the other direction again. Five plays after Maye’s lost fumble, Houston lost one of its own: Christian Gonzalez ripped the ball out of running back Woody Marks’ hands with rookie teammate Craig Woodson falling on the loose ball for his second takeaway of the day.
The Patriots offense, however, continued to remain stuck in the mud at that point in the game and punted after the fumble recovery. One drive later, the unit found more success.
Moment No. 7: Boutte magic
Kayshon Boutte scored his first career touchdown last season when he beat Texans All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley on a deep ball. On Sunday, it was rinse-repeat for the wideout and his young quarterback: in the early fourth quarter, the pair connected on a 32-yard touchdown that gave the Patriots their biggest lead of the day.
The Patriots offense did not have its most efficient day, but it came through on multiple occasions — this being one of them. Maye placed the ball perfectly where only his receiver could catch it, with Boutte getting a step on one of the best defenders in the game and completing an outstanding catch.
