6 winners and losers from Patriots’ playoff win over Texans

The New England Patriots are on to the AFC Championship Game. In the last game of the season at Gillette Stadium, New England outlasted Houston with a final score of 28-16.

Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live-viewing the Patriots’ divisional playoff victory.

Winners

WR Kayshon Boutte: New England’s top pas catcher made the most of his three receptions as he finished with a game-high 75 yards and a touchdown. Boutte’s first two catches came on back-to-back drop backs working the same slant concept through the second passing window for gains of 28 and 18 (to help set up Stefon Diggs’ touchdown). Boutte then made perhaps the play of the game, as he hauled in a one-handed, 32-yard touchdown catch over Derek Stingley Jr. to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

“He keeps on making plays, making me look good,” Drake Maye said. “Kind of the same type of throw as my first one to him [last year], and he made an even better catch this time. Props to Kayshon for keeping on playing. He was huge for us tonight.”

ED K’Lavon Chaisson: After leading New England’s pass rush with two sacks last week, K’Lavon Chaisson generated a team-high six pressures and one sack in the Divisional Round, including four quick pressures to match his career-high. Chaisson had the initial pressure to force an errant throw on Marcus Jones’ pick-six, as the pass rusher became the first Patriots defender since Dont’a Hightower in 2018 to record four quick pressures in a postseason game.

CB Christian Gonzalez, CB Carlton Davis, and CB Marcus Jones: With Christian Gonzalez playing the field side, the top corner was targeted a team-high 16 times on Sunday and allowed just seven receptions for 58 yards (3.6 yards per target). New England’s top corner forced five tight windows, including four in man coverage, to go along with a pass deflection and forced fumble. Carlton Davis then handled the boundary and before leaving with a head injury allowed three catches on eight targets while hauling in two interceptions off of C.J. Stroud.

Inside, Marcus Jones limited Christian Kirk to just two catches for 20 yards and a touchdown, but Jones matched the points with a pick-six of his own.

Losers

OT Will Campbell: The Patriots’ rookie left tackle appeared to continue to struggle in live action, as he was initially charted with four pressures against and two sacks allowed to Will Anderson — one forcing a fumble in which Anderson’s get-off would have made it hard for any tackle to stop. Campbell had a blunt review of his performance: “I need to play better. I hold myself to a higher standard than what I put out tonight.”

Honorable mentions

• It was a tough battle for Drake Maye against a top-ranked defense that was more unpredictable than expected with their early-down coverage schemes to force New England into living in third-and-longs. All-in-all, the QB finished the day completing 16 of 27 passes for 179 yards, 3 touchdowns, and an interception (which came on an end-of-half hail mary attempt) while finishing with -0.25 EPA/play (15th percentile). Beyond playing more two-high safeties on second-down, Houston also upped their man coverage use. Maye, however, was more effective against man-to-man (8-12, 106 yards) compared to last week as he connected on all three of his scores, with the highlight being the deep shot to Boutte in the fourth quarter. Maye did continue to struggle with ball security issues, however, as he fumbled four times and lost two. It was a back-and-forth battle between two heavyweights, where Maye’s big plays landed him the knockout punch.
• Other pass catchers: Stefon Diggs got going with four catches for 40 yards and an impressive touchdown catch through contact. DeMario Douglas caught the opening touchdown as he beat his man coverage assignment against a zero blitz before finding the end zone.
• Rhamondre Stevenson continued to run well with 70 yards on 16 carries (4.4 average) — including 25 yards on four straight carries on a key clock-killing drive in the fourth quarter.
• The rest of the offensive line held up well as Maye was under pressure on an extremely manageable 24 percent of his drop backs highlighted by Morgan Moses allowing just one pressure in his matchups vs. Danielle Hunter. The QB helped mitigate the rush by getting the ball out at his third quickest rate this season.
• New England health on defense was highlighted by their success defending the run. Texans’ top back Woody Marks was stuffed for a loss or no gain on eight of his 14 carries and had just two successful runs. In total, 21 designed runs by Houston picked up 41 yards.
• Khyiris Tonga’s return helped New England in the run game, while the DT also tallied a sack. Christian Barmore’s presence was also felt in the interior.
• The Patriots made it a point to get after Stroud and blitzed the QB on just under of half of his drop backs. That led to six turnover-worthy plays for the QB.
• Andy Borregales was perfect in his XP attempts and Bryce Baringer added three i20s in a busy day in bad conditions.