FOXBOROUGH — From the very first time we spoke with Mike Vrabel this week about his team’s upcoming game with the Houston Texans, you could feel an air of agitation. Not that it’s hard to detect with Vrabel. His poker face isn’t as good as he would like it to be, or maybe, when you’ve had as much success as he has, you don’t care. But Vrabel clearly was put off by all the talk about the big, bad Texans defense, and while he had no problem complimenting them, the coach already planted the seed with his own defense about the disrespect - or whatever you want to call it.
“I'm sure they're going to tell you in 30 seconds as soon as you guys go rushing out of here,” Vrabel said to close his post-game press conference. “Again, they're (Texans) really good for a reason; they've shown it each and every week. But our guys are prideful men. And they want to compete, and they want to win. And, again, they deserve the recognition that they're going to get. They're a top-five defense for a reason as well.”
So, with a little help from CJ Stroud - or a lot, depending on how you want to view the picture - Vrabel's defense, coordinated by Zak Kuhr, made life miserable for Houston. They turned the Texans over five times. Four came on interceptions of the beleaguered Stroud, including one by Marcus Jones that went for a touchdown and put the Pats in front for good (14-10). Some of the players were a little more casual, if you will, about their level of irritation with the Texans’ hype. Others had no problem sharing their true feelings.
“Definitely,” Milton Williams stated. “It fueled the whole defense. Ain't nobody been talking about our defense all year, but we'll see what they've got to say today.”
“Like they do have a great defense, but we felt like we do too, and people weren't really giving us that much notice,” linebacker Jack Gibbens told me with a big smile on his face. “And so we definitely, I think, had a chip on our shoulder tonight to kind of show thatwe can play at that level too, and that we're one of the best defenses in the league as well.”
Who can argue with the results, especially here in the playoffs? A week after the Pats made Justin Herbert look like he should be playing at Foxborough High School, they made it even worse for Stroud. He was uncomfortable from the beginning, something Pats players thought was a real possibility after a) watching his tape and b) realizing wide receiver Nico Collins was likely a no-go (he missed the game with a concussion).
The very first throw from Stroud was well behind his intended target, missing an easy completion. That was just the beginning. The Pats made it difficult on him, with sticky man-to-man coverage (nearly 31% of the time, per Sumer Sports) and those matching quarters coverage they love so much. The back end had no fear of the Texans’ “weapons” and reacted accordingly, with the safeties often sitting on routes and forcing even more congestion between the hashes/numbers.
“If he (Stroud) is kept clean, he can make any throw that any quarterback can make,” Williams said. “But under pressure, you know, he puts a ball in harms away, and we try to take advantage.”
“We knew CJ, at the end of the day... he can dice defenses up,” Jones said, noting that teams that sit back against Stroud generally pay. “So our main thing was to have pressure when it came down to it. I’m glad we caused what we caused today.”
“I think the back end did a great job, giving him different looks and different reads to disguise,” K’Lavon Chaisson added. “Getting him to hold the ball was clutch.”
That’s where the evolution of this defense came into play. The Pats have leaned heavily into an aggressive, blitzing approach over the last six weeks of the season. Over the previous five weeks, they were third across the entire league in blitz percentage and took that up a notch against the Chargers. Tonight, they were at around 40%. And while the Pats only recorded three sacks, they swarmed Stroud (he was 20-of-47, 179 yards), overwhelming a porous offensive line that was without right tackle Trent Brown, whose pregame workout on the field apparently didn’t go well enough to get him a jersey (knee).
"They did a good job of stunting, and we knew that," Stroud said. "They had a really good D-line and they were good on the back end. You know, the pick six, he (Jones) made a heck of a play. I tried to make a play and had a guy open, but he (Chaisson) hit my arm and made a great play."
“I feel as though when it comes down to pressures, it’s all 11 working," Jones said. "The guys getting in the right place at the right time, causing havoc on the quarterback. But then also guys on the back end be in the real spot. Usually, when you have pressure, quarterbacks want the quick game. Being in the right place at the right time is very effective and very good to have. We’ve progressed when it comes to that.”
“We’re nasty. Physical. Tough,” Williams said. “Whatever you want to call it, that’s what we are. We got a bunch of dogs, and we're hungry.”
Now they’ll take this show on the road, against the top-seeded Broncos, who survived the Bills in overtime Saturday but lost their starting quarterback, Bo Nix, for the season with an ankle injury. That means former Patriot Jarrett Stidham is next, and if I were him, even with play-caller Sean Payton on my side, I’d be afraid. Very afraid.