The New England Patriots drew the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round. Both teams won ugly, low-scoring games during Wild Card weekend. The Pats are at home, so they’re favored, but many look at that Texans defense and worry for Drake Maye and company.
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At this point, everyone who pays attention to the NFL has heard it all when it comes to the Texans. We’ve all seen the charts that show the Texans have the best defense in the league despite never disguising their scheme. “Houston is the definition of ‘line ’em up and play'” and “they’re like a bunch of velociraptors with machine guns” seem to be among the internet’s favorite Texans jokes over the past week.
Houston did have the best defense in football this year. But a lot of the recent praise is based on the dominance they showed against a hapless Steelers offense led by a geriatric QB. Drake Maye is a long way from geriatric. And the Patriots’ offense is much more talented and creative than Pittsburgh’s. Needless to say, New England is confident—and so are their alumni. Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski believe the Pats will “expose” Houston’s highly-touted defensive unit.
“The way the Patriots game plan with [offensive coordinator Josh] McDaniels and [head coach Mike] Vrabel, just their mindsets and how they work,” Gronkowski said. “If there’s gonna be a team that exposes the weaknesses of the Houston Texans. It’s this game coming up versus the Patriots. It’s the Patriots who are gonna expose ’em.”
Gronkowski believes that the coaching and the scheming of Josh McDaniels and Mike Vrabel will be crucial to pry open this very simple yet sturdy Texans defense. Edelman, however, is more focused on Maye and how the young MVP candidate can ensure a victory for his team.
“Drake Maye has to be Drake Maye too,” Edelman chimed in. “He’s gotta have some big plays with his legs… they gotta be disciplined, but when there’s a shot, you gotta be able to hit it. And he needs a couple big plays with those legs. But I think the Patriots can win this game.”
It was clear in the Wild Card round that the Patriots had taken the training wheels off Maye a little bit when it came to his scrambling. And that’s what Edelman is referring to. Last week, 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers was pummeled by this defensive front because he couldn’t move around when the four-man rush closed in.
Maye is nimble and athletic as any QB. That should give the Patriots an extra avenue through which they can beat this tough-as-nails Texans defense. We will find out when the two teams clash at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with New England coming in as 3.5-point favorites.
