Pats Pulpit
The Houston Texans were the first team Drake Maye faced as an NFL starting quarterback, but a lot has changed since Week 6 of the 2024 season. Maye is a legitimate MVP candidate now, who has helped the New England Patriots recapture the AFC East and return to the postseason. The Texans, meanwhile, have taken another step forward on defense and are now arguably the best in the league at throwing a wrench in other teams’ offensive aspirations.
With that said, let’s find out more about the Patriots’ divisional round opponent. To do so, we spoke with Scott Barzilla of Pats Pulpit’s sister site Battle Red Blog, the SB Nation community for all things Texans.
Here is what he told us about the upcoming game and opponent.
1. What are the keys to moving the ball against this Texans defense?
Obviously, no defense is perfect and the Texans defense isn’t perfect either. The Pats will be tempted to keep their tight ends in to block, but that would play into the Texans hands. Defensively, they have shut down wide receivers most of the season, but they usually have more issues with tight ends. Their corners are the best in the NFL, but after Jalen Pitre and Calen Bullock they are pretty thin at safety.
Additionally, the Texans can get caught overpursuing the quarterback and they are usually good to allow one 20+ yard scramble per game. Those have come at terrible times this year. Drake Maye is certainly more than capable of doing that, so those two elements concern me.
2. There are plenty of studs on the Texans’ defense, but which players may be flying under the radar?
Pitre got absolutely robbed of a Pro Bowl berth. He was the highest rated safety in the NFL for several weeks according to Pro Football Focus. He and Bullock are solid safeties in the run and pass game. Derek Stingley Jr. was a first-team All-Pro at corner, but Kamari Lassiter actually had a better season.
I think the most impressive thing about this defense is the sheer depth they have on the defensive line. Everyone focuses on Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson, but they can rotate four or five solid edge rushers throughout the game and all of them (including Derek Barnett and Denico Autry) can get to the quarterback. Sheldon Rankins and Tommy Togai have been solid on the inside. There isn’t quite as much interior DL depth, but overall all of the guys they do have are proficient at getting to the quarterback.
3. How has the Texans offense grown and overcome injures this season? What’s the strength of this unit?
The biggest injury has been Joe Mixon. We still aren’t quite sure what happened to Mixon, but he was missed particularly early in the season. The Texans relied more heavily on Woody Marks in the second half and that has made a huge difference. None of the Texans backs will blow you away with their numbers, but they...
