A defensive-led Wild Card win keeps the Patriots’ Cinderella season alive — but Sunday’s Divisional matchup vs. Houston will be Drake Maye’s toughest test yet.
The Patriots’ Cinderella run is still alive — and this week’s episode of the Patriots Roundtable Podcast is all about what it’s going to take to keep it that way.
We open by putting a bow on New England’s 16-3 Wild Card win over the Chargers, a game where the defense completely stole the show. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t smooth. But it was playoff football. The Patriots turned it into a field-position fight, kept Los Angeles out of the end zone, and let the pass rush ramp up as the night went on. For all the talk about what the offense didn’t do, the reality is simple: the Patriots never let the Chargers get comfortable — and they won the kind of game that good teams have to win in January.
Drake Maye didn’t have the fireworks people were expecting in his playoff debut, especially early. The first half was shaky, the protection wasn’t clean, and the Chargers made him work for everything. But the most important part of the story was the response. Maye settled down after the break, used his legs to move the chains, and delivered the one drive the Patriots absolutely had to have in the fourth quarter — capped by his first career postseason touchdown pass. That’s growth. That’s resilience. And it’s exactly the kind of thing you want to see from a 23-year-old quarterback playing his first playoff game.
From there, we shift the focus to the Divisional Round matchup in Foxboro against the Houston Texans — and make no mistake, this is the stiffest test Maye has seen yet. Houston brings the kind of defense that can end your season in a hurry. They don’t need to blitz. They get pressure with the front four. They’re fast, violent, disciplined, and they force you to play their brand of football.
So how do the Patriots counter it? We break down where New England can find advantages, starting with personnel. If the Patriots want to stay ahead of the sticks and keep Maye upright, they’re going to need to be multiple — heavy packages, extra protection, and a game plan that doesn’t ask Maye to play hero ball against the best defense he’s faced in his career. That doesn’t mean conservative. It means smart. Take what’s there, stay on schedule, and pick your moments to hit explosives.
On the other side of the ball, we talk about why this matchup actually sets up well for New England’s defense — as long as they keep Houston off schedule. C.J. Stroud has flashed, but he’s also shown real vulnerability under pressure. If the Patriots can win early downs, tighten up the run defense again, and force Stroud into obvious passing situations, then you can start to let the front seven loose. And in a game where points are going to be at a premium, the red zone battle might decide the whole thing.
We close with final thoughts on how the Patriots can win this game, the biggest swing factors to watch early, and our picks for the rest of the weekend’s slate.
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