New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots and Houston Texans will look to bring themselves one step closer to ultimate glory in their divisional round matchup on Sunday.
How?
I’ve put together the keys to victory for both sides:
The Texans’ defensive style is legitimately fascinating, as they ranked first in total defensive EPA (-130.69) and points allowed per game (16.7) while also ranking dead last in blitz rate (21.6%) and simulated pressure rate (29.7%) — all while playing more man-coverage (67.9%) and single-high coverage (74.8%) than anyone in 2025.
Kamari Lassiter, Jalen Pitre, Danielle Hunter, Derek Stingley Jr. and Will Anderson Jr. make it pretty easy to take those risks…
I don’t necessarily know if there’s a way to “take advantage” given that group’s undeniable talent, but if there was it would involve trusting the league’s most accurate deep-ball quarterback to exploit that loyalty to simplicity.
Drake Maye isn’t your typical sophomore signal-caller, but there are aspects to his game that need to be cleaned up.
Maye’s unwillingness to accept defeat on individual plays is an issue, and it came back to bite him in the ass during last weekend’s wild-card victory over the Los Angeles Chargers — leading to two fumbles on five sacks.
Houston defensive coordinator Matt Burke won’t stray from what made his defense the best in football, but perhaps making slight schematic changes can throw a wrench in things and present them with a few opportunities to take advantage of one of the youngster’s few bad habits.
Josh McDaniels has plenty of friends down in Houston, Texas.
Texans general manager Nick Caserio, offensive coordinator Nick Caserio, special teams coordinator Frank Ross, offensive line coach Cole Popovich, offensive assistant Jerry Schuplinski and wide receivers coach Ben McDaniels — you can put two and two together on that one — previously worked with the guy, so they know exactly what he’s capable of and most comfortable with doing.
I’d expect there to be a few wrinkles in the offensive gameplan — perhaps we see the Wing-T or the Wildcat. I just don’t think we’ll see that tired old flea flicker, the double pass, or that quarterback throwback he seems to be obsessed with.
It’s a simple formula; build an early lead, run the football, watch your defense dominate.
The Texans have been built to do exactly that, but the only way it works is if you’re able to run the ball effectively. Woody Marks, Nick Chubb, Jawhar Jordan, Dare Ogunbowale and British Brooks have combined for precisely two 100-yards games in 2025, but one of those came in their wild-card victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers…
“If you want to control the game, you have to win on first downs.”
No, if you want to control this game, you have to win on second down.
Houston is the best second-down defense in football,...
