Image courtesy of Sports Illustrated
As the Houston Texans defense quickly pulled away from the Steelers on Monday night, one thing was clear.
During the initial glory days of the dynasty and then on the back end, the playoff run was often referred to as a ‘March of the Tomato Cans’ when it came to caliber of opponents. The Pats would automatically host and win the Divisional Round game before going to an absurd eight straight AFC title games.
That’s no longer the case.
If the 2025 Patriots are destined for an improbable Super Bowl run, they would have earned it every step of the way.
After grinding out a 16-3 win against a very good Chargers defense, the matchup against this elite – perhaps historic – Houston defense will be the most difficult task of the season for Drake Maye and the offense.
The Texans held Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers to just 175 total yards of offense on Monday Night Football and had two turnovers for touchdowns in the later stages of the game when things were still tight at 10-6. During the season, they led the league in yards allowed per game (277.2) and points allowed per game (17.4). They’ve been thrown into discussions with the 1985 Bears and 2000 Ravens.
Several things will need to be better than they were this past Sunday night if the Patriots are either going to host, or travel to Denver for the AFC Championship.
Sunday was a rough one for Will Campbell and Jared Wilson. In both cases, you hope that the first playoff game jitters and speed bumps are now out of the way. Campbell is also going to get bigger and stronger as time goes on – remember, he hasn’t had a full offseason of NFL weight training yet – and will learn more tricks of the trade.
Having said all that, they both need to be better if Maye is going to survive against the Texans’ elite pass rush.
Ideally, receivers get open a bit more too. Guys struggled to get separation for much of the night against LA, while there was also plenty of missed opportunities. Houston’s secondary is fast and physical, but also susceptible to giving up a big play or two here or there on any given drive.
What makes the Texans so dangerous isn’t just the talent and speed on defense, it’s their mentality.
Head coach DeMeco Ryans has them truly believing and that’s always half the battle. In many ways, the Pats and Texans are mirror images of each other, and not just because of all the ties between the two organizations. Drake Maye is the biggest reason why the Patriots are where they are, but the belief Mike Vrabel has quickly instilled is probably the next biggest factor.
If New England is able to get by in the Divisional Round, another elite defense in the Denver Broncos or division rival Buffalo awaits with a spot in the Super Bowl on the line. Drake Maye is already facing more difficult road blocks to a Lombardi than Brady did in his career, aside from the AFCCG in Kansas City and maybe a handful of others.
The easy schedule talk during the regular season was one thing, but the only thing that matters now is that The March of the Tomato Cans no longer exists.
If the Pats end up in Santa Clara, they would have gone through a gauntlet to get there.