The New England Patriots are one win away from booking a remarkable Super Bowl berth after defeating the Houston Texans 28-16 in Monday’s divisional round match-up.
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The victory, which came as Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud threw four interceptions in the first half alone, will now see the Patriots travel to Denver next week to play the Broncos in the AFC Championship game.
Despite being on the road against the AFC’s top seed, New England will be heavy favourites for the game considering the Broncos will be without quarterback Bo Nix.
Denver head coach Sean Payton announced after Sunday’s overtime win over Buffalo that Nix had broken a bone in his ankle and would undergo surgery, ruling the second-year quarterback out for the season.
It means the Broncos will turn to back-up Jarrett Stidham, who was actually drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round in 2019 and spent three seasons in New England as the back-up to Tom Brady and Cam Newton before being traded to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Monday’s game was shades of the sophomore slump that saw Stroud, who was drafted second overall by the Texans in 2023, struggle to rediscover the poise and confidence of his stellar rookie campaign.
Instead, Stroud looked panicked under pressure and even when he had a cleaner pocket, he was getting rid of the ball too fast or just generally inaccurate with his passes.
The result was four interceptions, which tied the most in a single game in Texans playoff history, while Stroud became just the fourth quarterback this century to throw that many picks in a playoff first half alone.
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It was a disastrous showing that would have left Texans coach DeMeco Ryans tempted to bench his young quarterback in favour of veteran Davis Mills, who went 3-0 this season with five touchdowns and just one interception when Stroud missed games.
But the snow wasn’t just causing issues for Stroud. New England’s second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who is an MVP candidate, was also struggling with ball security as he fumbled it four times — the most by a Patriots player ever in a playoff game.
Fortunately for Maye, only two of those fumbles were lost in what was a turnover-prone game from both teams. Maye also threw an interception, but that came on a hail mary at the end of the first half.
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It wasn’t necessarily a surprise for Maye to have shaky moments against this Houston defence, which sacked Aaron Rodgers four times and hit him another 12 times last week.
New England’s defence, on the other hand, is far from a dominant unit but its interior pass rush had been particularly lethal and that was a poor match-up for Houston given its issues with interior pass protection.
The Patriots were first on the board early in the first quarter as Maye found DeMario Douglas for a long touchdown on 4th-and-1, picking up the all-out blitz from the Texans and making them pay.
The Texans then had their biggest play of the game on the next drive as Stroud found a wide-open Dalton Schultz, who rumbled for 42 yards as Houston later kicked the chip shot field goal.
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But in a big blow for a Houston offence already without top passing option Nico Collins, Schultz was later ruled out for the game after the veteran tight end picked up a calf injury.
Still, the Texans then took an unlikely lead as a Maye fumble saw Christian Kirk, who had his best game of the season the week prior against Pittsburgh, score the go-ahead touchdown.
The Patriots defence hit back with a big play on their own, however, with a Marcus Jones pick-six before Maye found former Texan Stefon Diggs in the end zone to extend New England’s lead to 21-10.
Despite Stroud’s turnover-riddled first half, the Texans were still able to work their way within one score with two field goals in the third quarter.
But a miraculous diving catch from Kayshon Boutte working on standout Houston corner Dererek Stingley pushed the Patriots’ lead back out to 28-16.
The Texans looked little hope of salvaging the result given Stroud’s struggles and in a moment that summed up how just how little confidence Ryans had in his quarterback, Houston punted with just over four minutes left.
It was 4th-and-18 and considering how poor Stroud had been the chances of getting a completion were minimal.
But with the Texans trailing by 12 and only having one timeout, Ryans was essentially waving the white flag. Although, perhaps he thought his defence was a better chance of making a play than his quarterback, such was Stroud’s level of play.
Later in Monday’s final divisional game, the Chicago Bears host the Los Angeles Rams.
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