If you could describe Sunday’s AFC Divisional Round playoff game for the Houston Texans at Foxborough in one word, that word would be…DEVESTATING.
New England would use their defense to force Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud to four interceptions in the Patriots 28-16 win at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots (15-3) will be taking on the Denver Broncos (15-3) in next week’s AFC championship game at the Mile High in Denver. As for the Texans (13-6), their season would come to a disappointing end and the poor performance of Stroud.
For the third straight year, the Texans would get bounced out of the divisional round of the playoffs and this one is a stinger to the offense, which had 5 turnovers: four from Stroud.
The Patriots–winner of 15 out of 16 games–will make their 16th conference championship game appearance and the first since their run to their sixth Super Bowl under Bill Belichick in the 2018 season. This is the ninth divisional game that the Patriots have won.
New England went three-and-out on its opening possession, forced to punt by the Texans. The same would happen for Houston’s offense where neither team was doing anything on the opening game.
The Patriots would score on the second possession of their drive with Drake Maye connecting with DeMario Douglas for a 28 yards touchdown pass to give the Patriots an early 7-0 lead. It was a 6 plays 66 yards drive taking 3:18 off the clock in the first quarter.
Houston would make a pretty impressive drive for themselves with Stroud connecting with Dalton Schultz for 42 yards to the Patriots 27. However, penalties would be a burner on two plays; Schultz jumping offside on the next play after the 42 yards reception and a 5 yards penalty after rookie Woody Marks would punch it in from one yard in the end zone but was called back for illegal shift.
Schultz would leave out of the game with an injured calf and never return back.
Houston did score on a 25 yards field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn to make it 7-3.
The Texans defense lived up to their standards as they have all season long with making the Patriots turnover the football. Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled the football at his own 25 yards line and was recovered by the Texans’ Azeez Al-Shaair.
Houston would take a 10-7 lead on a 10-yards touchdown pass from Stroud to Christian Kirk. It would cap off on a 6 plays 27 yards drive for Houston to take the lead. It would be the only time in the game that the Texans would lead and never got the chance to take it back.
After the Patriots’ drive stalled on 6 plays for 12 yards, Stroud would throw one of his four interceptions with one returning for a touchdown.
On the first play of the drive, K’Lavon Chaisson would blitz and hit Stroud while he was throwing the ball in the air and it was picked off by Marcus Jones, who took it back 26 yards for the Patriots touchdown to make it 14-10. The former Galena Park North Shore product would have a productive day applying pressure towards Stroud and the Texans offense. The pass was supposed to be intended for Xavier Hutchinson on the drive.
The next possession would be more of the same with Stroud throwing his second interception of the play while looking for Hutchinson again but intercepted by Craig Woodson at the Houston’s 36.
New England did not look back throughout the day as Maye would connect with Stephon Diggs on a 7-yards touchdown pass. The entire play of the drive Maye would connect with Kayshon Boutte on a 25- and 18-yards pass which would be a 5-plays 56 yards down the field to make it 21-10.
Stroud would throw his third interception of the game as Carlton Davis III picked off Stroud while trying to go to Hutchinson again at the New England 48. Davis would have two interceptions in the game and making sure that they would contain the passing game throughout the entire night without having Nico Collins and Schultz.
Texans would go into the half down 21-10 and looking to get some spark. The defense would respond back throughout most of the game with an interception of their own.
Patriots’ QB Maye would throw an interception that was caught by JaMarcus Ingram at the New England 46.
However, the offense for the Texans could not get into the end zone but only can get a field goal by Fairbairn for another 25 yards. It was an 11 plays 58 yards drive with Stroud not connecting with Kirk on a wheel route which was read perfect by Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones.
Houston had chances to be able to get back in the game and try to convert on a fumble recovery by Al-Shaair. Maye was trying to go back for a pass, but the ball was stripped by Will Anderson.
Things would turn for the worst for the Texans because on the drive Marks would fumble inside the Patriots’ 17 yards line which would be the difference in the game.
The defense for the Texans did all they could to keep this game close, and they did get the game as close to 5 going into the fourth quarter with Fairbairn nailing a 51 yards field goal to make it 21-16.
Maye would find Boutte on a 32 yards touchdown pass (which they had to review the play) and it was confirmed for a 28-16 lead in the fourth.
Throughout the entire night the Texans could not fight their way back with the inconsistency of the offense not moving the ball. Houston would finish the game with 7 of 17 on third downs and only mustered 241 yards of total offense.
Stroud was 20-47 for 212 yards one touchdowns but the four interceptions was the biggest takeaway in the entire game. Meanwhile, Maye was 16 of 27 for 179 yards two touchdowns and only one interception.
The inability of Stroud has left Texans fans in a disarray despite having the number one defense in the entire NFL and the postseason.
There are questions to why Stroud played poorly in this game. This is the third consecutive season the Texans has failed to make it past the divisional to advance to the championship game under DeMeco Ryan.
“I just feel like I let people down. … It hurts, and I’m not used to it,” Stroud said. “I didn’t play my best this year. But I’m gonna respond, keep my chest up, my chin up high and I’m gonna just keep battling forward. If God is before me, who can be against me? I’m just gonna rely on that.”
In the post-game after the Texans loss, Ryan made a standing statement to back up his QB1.
“C.J. is our guy,” Ryans said. “I believed that he could come back out in the second half and flip it. I believed that he could play better, and he did that in the second half. He did play better. We had some positive drives there in the second half. I believed that he would do that, and he did that. As I always tell our guys at halftime, it really doesn’t matter what happened in the first half.”
Stroud’s turnovers were the most in the first half of a playoff game since Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence also had four in a 2022 wild-card matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. Since the 1970 merger, players with four interceptions are 3-35 in the postseason. Since 2000, only Lawrence in 2022 and Russell Wilson in the 2014 NFC Championship Game were victorious despite being picked off four times.
After Sunday’s loss, Ryans told Stroud, “Keep your head up. I love you. I got your back.” The message from the coach trickled down to the players in the locker room. Defensive end Will Anderson Jr. and Stroud sat next to each other giving each other words of encouragement.
Anderson, who had three sacks and two forced fumbles, made sure to let Stroud know that he’s “the best quarterback in the league hands down.”
“There’s nobody better than [Stroud],” he said. “We are behind him, we rally behind him, we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but that’s why we have the offseason for, to get better and grow.”
