MORSE: Clearing the Notebook from Patriots vs Texans Game
Patriots Playoff Prowess: Maye, Defense Lead Charge Against Texans
Follow us
Follow Us
🕑 Read Time: 6 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots News
HOME > Patriots Blog > Patriots News
Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones took one of Stroud’s quartet of turnovers and returned it for a 26-yard touchdown. It marked the first pick-six the Patriots recorded in a playoff game since retired Pro Bowler Asanta Samuel Sr. did it in 2007.
For context, Samuel’s son, Asante Samuel Jr., is now a five-year veteran in the NFL. That alone should properly put into perspective how long it’s been before Jones’ house call.
CJ Stroud’s four 1st half Interceptions tied an NFL record for most Interceptions in a half during the postseason.
“Tough. Just put ourselves in a hole too many times to climb out of. What an incredible turnaround Vrabel and the Patriots have accomplished this year. Thoroughly impressive.” Legendary Texans defender JJ Watt shared on X, formerly Twitter, after another Houston playoff exit.
ESPN Dan Orolovsky (one of the analysts who picked Houston to win) did a great video analysis of the Kayshon Boutte TD. The Texans were showing a 6-man blitz with two linebackers in the “A” gap (either side of the center). Maye moved Rhamondre Stevenson up in the formation to protect the “A” gap. They also kept Hunter Henry in to block. On the snap, the two Inside Linebackers drop into coverage. This allows Stevenson to go straight up the field and occupy both linebackers in pass coverage. On the line its 6 Patriots on 4 Texans. Mike Onwenu and Morgan Moses win their one-on-one pass blocking battles. Henry caves down the blitzing linebacker into Will Campbel who stymies him in place. Garrett Bradbury came over to help because he didn’t have anybody to block. What nobody saw was how wide-open Stefon Diggs was on the play. He did a deep in-cut pattern inside at the 20-yard line and was wide-open. The Free Safety hesitated when he saw Diggs open, and he was no help on the deep pass.
Christian Gonzalez allowed just 58 yards on seven catches despite being targeted 16 times, according to Next Gen Stats. In all, the Patriots tallied an incredible 14 passes defensed.
| LA Chargers | |||||||
| Offense | Pass Blck | Run Blck | Sacks | QB Hits | Hurries | Pressure | |
| Campbell | 75.6 | 60.8 | 84.3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 25′ Season | 74 | 75.1 | 71 | ||||
| Wilson | 58.2 | 40.6 | 64.1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 49.9 | 42.8 | 62.2 | |||||
| Bradbury | 56.7 | 79.4 | 47.3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59.8 | 55.7 | 63.1 | |||||
| Onwenu | 71.5 | 83.3 | 63.6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 78.2 | 74.2 | 78.2 | |||||
| Moses | 68 | 83.5 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | 69.8 | 77.1 | |||||
| Houston Texans | |||||||
| Offense | Pass Blck | Run Blck | Sacks | QB Hits | Hurries | Pressure | |
| Campbell | 45.8 | 16.5 *** | 65.5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| 25′ Season | 74 | 75.1 | 71 | ||||
| Wilson | 69.1 | 76.9 | 64.1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 49.9 | 42.8 | 62.2 | |||||
| Bradbury | 52.9 | 83.6* | 46 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59.8 | 55.7 | 63.1 | |||||
| Onwenu | 72.5 | 55.1 | 73.7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 78.2 | 74.2 | 78.2 | |||||
| Moses | 94.2 ** | 83.7 | 94.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | 69.8 | 77.1 | |||||
Campbell had a brutal game Sunday versus Will Anderson and the Texans. It should be noted that Campbell did not make the All-Rookie team. Kelvin Banks was selected 9th overall by New Orleans and was selected ahead of Campbell. David Andrews on 98.5 The Sports Hub talked about Campbell being a rookie and is still hurt. Kick-starting on his dropback, Campbell has been late. If Campbell is still hurt, he should not be playing. Andrews admitted that he doesn’t know if he is still hurt.
In the win over the Houston Texans, Harold Landry was limited to just 11 snaps per Mike Reiss, highlighting how little faith head coach Mike Vrabel must have in his former Tennessee Titans pupil. Landry has not been the same player, after a knee injury against Tennessee.
Carlton Davis is in the Concussion Protocol as he was injured late in the game versus the Texans. Not only did Davis have his best game as a Patriot in the win, but it was arguably one of the top performances of his career. He finished the day with four tackles and two interceptions, which was the first set of interceptions of his career in the playoffs. Unfortunately, he had 3 penalties called on him. I found it interesting that Mike Vrabel did not give Davis props when he addressed the team after the game in the locker room.
The Patriots blitzed at a 46.2% rate versus CJ Stroud and the Texans. Stroud was under Pressure on 44.2% of his drop-backs to pass. Against the blitz, Stroud was 8 of 23 for 89 yards and had 2 INTs. While under Pressure, Stroud was 8 of 14.
The betting line for Sunday’s AFC Championship game with Denver opened at Patriots favored by 1.5 points. Almost immediately, the line jumped to the Pats, favored by 4.5 points. Today, the line is up to 5.5 points. That is the largest AFC Championship road favorite since the merger of the AFL and NFL. That is also the highest Home Underdog of a #1 seed in a Conference Championship game since 1970.
An interesting stat is that Kayshon Boutte has beaten his former LSU Tiger teammate Derek Stingley twice in two seasons for TDs greater than 20 yards. Stingley is an All-Pro CB and one of the best players in the league. He has only given up 2 other passes of 20+ yards in his career. Stingley was drafted in 2022, and Boutte was taken in 2023. While at LSU, they went at each other every day in practice.
K’Lavon Chaisson had 1 Sack and 7 Pressures in the game. His QB hit on CJ Stroud set up Marcus Jones pick six.
Houston only had 12 giveaways during the regular season.
Lowest passer rating allowed in a single postseason among teams with at least 5 sacks since 2000:
2000 Ravens – 33.4 (won SB XXXV)
2002 Buccaneers – 45.9 (won SB XXXVII)
2025 Patriots – 46.5 ???
Craig Woodson received a 90.3 Grade for the game versus the Houston Texans. He was graded as the highest-graded rookie across all four divisional-round games, showcasing his solid play throughout the playoffs.
This from NFL Research – Regular season ranks for Drake Maye’s playoff opponents…
Chargers Defense (Wild Card)
– Scoring (9th)
– Total (5th)
– Pass (5th)
– Comp Pct (5th)
– Passer Rating (1st)
Texans Defense (Divisional)
– Scoring (2nd)
– Total (1st)
– Pass (6th)
– Comp Pct (3rd)
– Passer Rating (3rd)
Broncos Defense (AFC Championship)
– Scoring (3rd)
– Total (2nd)
– Pass (7th)
– Comp Pct (2nd)
– Passer Rating (6th)
More tidbits from NFL Researcher – The New England Patriots (including playoffs)…
16 wins in 2025 (8 from 2023-24 combined)
$364 million spent in free agency (most in NFL)
2nd-most snaps by rookies in 2025
Only 16 players remain from the 2023 roster
Note: according to Over The Cap, they are still $31M under the salary cap, and that all carries over to next year. Christian Gonzalez will be eligible for a contract extension. K’Lavon Chaisson, Khyiris Tonga, Jack Gibbens, Jaylinn Hawkins and Vederian Lowe are all going to be Free Agents that they want to get re-signed. They also might want to address Kayshon Boutte’s contract a year earlier to lock him up. The elephant in the room is going to be the next Drake Maye contract. It has been the track record of the Patriots ownwership under Robert Kraft to spend in one year and to not spend for the next two or three seasons.
The Patriots had all 11 Draft picks make the 53-man roster by the end of the season and had three UDFAs make the team as well. They also have two UDFA’s on season-ending IR. Corey Durden was a UDFA in 2023 and is also a rookie the Patriots claimed at the roster cutdown day from the Giants after spending two years on the Practice Squads of the Rams and Giants. You all know the contributions of Elijah Ponder and Efton Chism.
The Texans’ Offensive Run Success rate was 29% per Evan Lazar. The Patriots’ defense shut down the Texans’ run game and put it all on the shoulders of CJ Stroud. This was the 1st time in several games that had the entire D-line group together again. This was the same group that dominated the 1st half of the season. The Texans were held under 50 yards rushing.
For the second week in a row, the Patriots’ defense has been compared to the 1985 Bears. This week, according to Phil Perry, the Defense produced 5 turnovers, a Pick 6, kept the running game under 50 yards, and only gave up 1 TD. The last team to do that in the playoffs was the 1985 Bears.
The Patriots only used an extra O-lineman twice prior to that key drive in the 4th Quarter. The Patriots were pinned down on the 4-yard line and they ate up over 6 minutes by pile driving the running game with Thayer Munford as the extra O-lineman in a Tackle eligible formation.
If you haven’t seen the NFL Films video on X of the Maye to Boutte TD pass, you need to see it. The camera focuses on the ball in slow-motion flight. It is a perfect spiral cutting through the snow, that drops right in the bucket for a spectacular one-handed catch by Boutte.
I loved that Matthew Berry had to backtrack on his claim that Jayden Daniels was the best QB from the 2024 Draft. In a heated exchange with Devin McCourty this fall, Berry stated that McCourty can talk to him when Maye plays in an AFC Championship. McCourty had a great comeback that Mayes plays in New England, and they only count Super Bowls. Berry, to his credit, changed his tune this week and conceded to McCourty.
This from Robert Littal BSO on X – “Imagine you are the Patriots. You shut down the running game. You put pressure on. Your blitzes are popping. Your backend is confusing. You are jumping routes. Making crazy INTs catches. Got CJ (Stroud) seeing Ghosts and Dan O (Dan Orlovsky) basically says you are trash and just got lucky for a hot take” on NFL Live. Orlovsky went on to put his foot squarely in his mouth when he said, “If you’re Houston, you win that game with 31 other quarterbacks”. Does that include Jarret Stidham? Just asking for a friend. That is just flat-out disrespectful of the Patriots Defense! Never does he mention that the lone TD was on a 27-yard drive after a Patriots turnover. Never does he mention the Patriots have played the #2 and #1 Defenses in back-to-back playoff game. He also failed to mention that the Patriots and Drake Maye threw 3 TD passes against a team that only gives up 15.9 points per game. The 21 points were the third highest the Texans have given up all season, and in the snow at Foxboro.
From our archive - this week all-time:
April 9 - April 24 (Through 26yrs)
Join 2,000+ fans getting exclusive stats, analysis, and insights delivered straight to their inbox every week. Never miss a play.