MORSE: Good, Bad, and Ugly After Patriots Advance to AFC Championship Game

The magical season continues as the Patriots are going to the AFC Championship with a 28-16 victory over the Houston Texans. It wasn’t pretty, but the Patriots’ defense stood tall again this week.

The Good

The Defense held CJ Stroud to 20 of 47, 42.5%, 212 yards, and 4 Interceptions. They stuffed the run, holding the Texans to 48 yards on 22 carries, 2.18 yards per carry. By stopping the run, they made Stroud try to beat them, and he failed miserably.
The Patriots’ Defense has given up one touchdown in two postseason games, and it was a 27-yard drive off a turnover. In the two playoff games, the Patriots’ defense held both QBs to a 43.2 Passer Rating.
The Patriots stopped the Texans 3 times out of the 4 times they were in the Red Zone.
The Texans had 15 possessions in the game and only had two drives of 30+ yards.
Marcus Jones was huge in this game with a pick 6 and a key Pass Breakup in the Endzone. He also had 4 Punt Returns for 53 yards with a big 24-yard return.
Per Field Yates at ESPN – Since the start of the 2022 season, when he entered the league, Marcus Jones has scored 6 non-offensive TDs. No NFL player has scored more in that stretch.
Kayshon Boutte had a great game. His TD was a spectacular one-handed catch in the endzone, beating All-Pro CB Derek Stingley. This is the second time that Boutte has beaten Stingley on a long pass in the last two years. Stingley has only given up 2 other passes of +20 yards in his career. Boutte also drew Pass Interference on Stingley prior to the 32-yard TD catch.
This from James Christensen of NE Patriots Draft – I’m still trying to think of a better catch than Kayshon Boutte’s. The moment… the defender… the weather… the difficulty… Unreal.
Stefon Diggs had a big game and some clutch catches. His TD catch was awesome, with a strong-handed catch.
This was not a great game for Drake Maye, but credit has to be given to the Houston Defense. Maye did have 3 TD passes. He was 16 of 27 for 179 yards and one pick (that was a Hail Mary at the end of the 1^st half).
Demario Douglas only had two catches on two targets for 36 yards, but a big catch for a 28-yard TD catch and run.
Rhamondre Stevenson came back from an eye injury and rushed for 70 yards on 16 carries, a 4.3 yards per carry. Several of those yards came in the 4^th Quarter when Houston knew the Pats were running the ball. I loved his run outside when he had the presence of mind to stay in bounds.
The Patriots ran for 105 yards overall
Christian Gonzalez had a very good game with 9 Tackles and a clutch Pass Breakup. He also had the Forced Fumble.
The Patriots were criticized for giving Carlton Davis $20M a year Free Agent contract. Tonight, we saw why they gladly gave him that contract. He had two Interceptions, which were his 1^st interceptions on the year. He was called for Pass Interference, and that is something that has happened in nearly every game. That is just the way he plays, and he has a reputation for being handsy.
Patriots won the Time of Possession 32:09 to Houston 27:51.
Coming into the game, the Texans gave up an average of 15.9 Points Per Game. The Patriots Offense scored 21 points, the 3^rd most against Houston all year.
This from Next Gen Stats – The Patriots defense forced 14 tight windows on 47 C.J. Stroud pass attempts (29.8%), the highest rate by a defense over the last six postseasons. The defense gained +27.8 EPA across five turnovers, the most by a playoff defense in the NGS era (since 2016).
Per Doug Kyed – Patriots DT Milton Williams on Texans QB C.J. Stroud: “If he’s kept clean, he can make any throw that any quarterback can make. But under pressure, he puts the ball in harms away, and we tried to take advantage of it.”
Early in the Fourth Quarter the Patriots were pinned deep in their own end at the 4-yard line. There was 11:57 left on the clock and the Patriots fought their way out of the shadow of their endzone on a 10 play, 44- yard drive and took 6:09 off the clock.
The Patriots in 3 Quarters caused more turnovers (5) than the NY Jets had all-season.

The Bad

Kyle Williams had a bad game going up against a tough player in Kamari Lassiter. Williams was 0-3. The last deep throw was on Maye. If he had thrown it inside instead of out of bound it would have been a catch. Williams actually beat Lassiter twice. The first time he beat Lassiter off the line the pass interference on Lassiter wasn’t called.
Will Campbell had a tough game against Will Anderson. Even when Henderson chipped Anderson, Campbell didn’t react well enough to stop Anderson from a strip sack of Maye.
Five sacks from Houston are not unusual, but a couple of those were on Maye for holding onto the ball too long.
I didn’t like the play-calling from Josh McDaniels. Far too often, we ran on every 1st Houston was stuffing the run, putting the team in a bad position. How many times were the Pats in 3^rd and long?
Maye fumbled 4 times. One of his drawbacks is that he has small hands for a QB. Maye’s ball security is not good enough for playoff play.

The Ugly

The Patriots were 3-for-14 on 3rd down.
Players with 3+ sacks and 2+ forced fumbles in a playoff game, since 2000:
- Will Anderson Jr. vs the Patriots today
- Odafe Oweh vs the Patriots last week
The weather probably contributed to a sloppy game that featured 8 turnovers (one was a Hail Mary Interception)
The Officiating crew was brutal. They missed a key Illegal Procedure against Houston and turned a blind eye to Patriots Charles Woods for Defensive Holding
The Texans were without their top receiver, Nico Collins, and they lost their #2 receiver in TE Dalton Schultz. Starting Right Tackle Trent Brown was inactive with an ankle injury. They moved LG Tytus Howard to Right Tackle and he gets hurt and is lost for the remainder of the game. Injuries are part of the game, but that was brutal for Houston.
This from Chris Gasper – Xavier Hutchinson was targeted 7 times in the first half. He caught one ball for 12 yards. He was targeted on two of C.J. Stroud’s four interceptions, including one that went right through Hutchinson’s hands.
With the exception of Marcus Jones pick six, the Patriots didn’t take advantage of the turnovers.
The Texans took advantage of the Patriots playing “Zero” Coverage for their only TD.
What were the Texans doing with 6:09 left on the clock and down two scores? They were 4th and 20, but they needed two scores to win, and they just punted. Thank You, DeMeco Ryans!
All five of the analysts on ESPN’s NFL Live (Marcus Spears, Ryan Clark, Dan Orlovsky, Mina Kimes, and Hannah Storm) picked the Texans to win! Thank you!

Like this article?
Support Mark and buy him a coffee.

About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

View all posts by Mark Morse

Tags: AFC Championship Drake Maye Game analysis Houston Texans Marcus Jones NFL Playoffs Patriots Patriots defense