FOXBOROUGH — The music in the home locker room wasn’t loud. It wasn’t a party. It was the sound of vindication.
All week, the chatter surrounding the AFC Divisional Round centered on one thing: The Houston Texans’ defensive front. The “Transformers.” The best defense in football. The New England Patriots defenders heard every word of it. They scrolled past the clips of Will Anderson Jr. wrecking game plans. They saw the pundits picking Houston to smother Drake Maye.
Yesterday afternoon, they took it personally.
“We were hearing them talk all week,” defensive tackle Milton Williams said, standing at his locker while the equipment staff collected game-worn cleats. “Ain’t nobody talking about our defense. We’re going to see if they’re going to talk about our defense now. Them boys are going home.”
The scoreboard read 28-16, but the real story was the suffocation.
This wasn’t just a win; it was a statement delivered with blunt force. For the first time since the 2003 AFC Championship Game, the Patriots forced five takeaways in a postseason bout. They didn’t just beat C.J. Stroud; they haunted him.
The “Nobody Believed Us” Fuel
Head Coach Mike Vrabel has spent his entire career—playing and coaching—manufacturing chips for shoulders that don’t need them. But this week, he didn’t have to manufacture a thing. The disrespect was real.
Sources inside the locker room told me late last night that defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr put a challenge on the whiteboard Saturday night: Make them panic.
They did. The Patriots intercepted Stroud four times in the first half alone—a franchise postseason record.
Carlton Davis, the veteran corner who has seen it all, played like a man possessed. He snagged two picks, becoming the first Patriot to do so in January since Alfonzo Dennard in 2013.
“They wanted to talk about their pass rush?” Davis said, grinning. “Let’s talk about our coverage. We played on a string today.”
Chaos in the Backfield
While the secondary feasted, the front seven did the dirty work. K’Lavon Chaisson, a player many wrote off years ago, played the game of his life.
Chaisson racked up six pressures and a sack, living in Stroud’s lap. He matched a career-high for quick pressures, effectively erasing the Texans’ bootleg concepts.
“That’s what I live for,” Williams added. “To shut people up.”
The most critical moment came from rookie safety Craig Woodson, who recovered a fumble forced by Christian Gonzalez deep in Patriots territory. It was the kind of complementary football that Belichick built this place on, and Vrabel has revived.
The Texans entered the game with the NFL’s “scariest” defense. They left having allowed 28 points. New England’s defense, meanwhile, has now allowed a combined 19 points and a single touchdown across two playoff games.
The Road to Denver
The celebration was short-lived. By the time the media entered the room, the focus had already shifted.
The Patriots are heading to the AFC Championship Game. Their opponent? The Denver Broncos. And in a twist that feels scripted by the football gods, they will face former Patriot and current Broncos starter Jarrett Stidham for a trip to the Super Bowl.
Stidham, who stepped in late this season, knows this building. He knows this system. But he hasn’t seen this version of the defense.
“We got a lot of guys over here with a chip on their shoulder,” Williams said, grabbing his bag to leave. “We go out there every time we step on the field and try to prove that.”
Proof delivered.
