New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had plenty of praise to go around after a 28-16 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
However, the three-time Super Bowl champion recognizes there’s much work ahead for this team in the AFC Championship Game next week. The Patriots won despite taking five sacks, three turnovers, and just 248 yards of offense.
“I’m always excited for our organization. Excited for the players. I’m appreciative of their work, their efforts. Everybody stepping up, we’re using everybody, everybody’s making plays. Everybody’s helping us win,” Vrabel told reporters afterward. “I’m excited for these guys. But they’re also not satisfied.”
“I can tell that. It wasn’t pretty,” Vrabel continued. “Defense kept us in there. And then when we needed it, our offense was able to come through late in the game there.”
New England held the Texans to 241 yards of total offense and forced five turnovers. Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud went 20-47 passing, threw four interceptions, and took three sacks. The Patriots also limited the Texans to 48 yards rushing.
Offensively, the Patriots had success with quarterback Drake Maye throwing for 179 yards and three touchdowns on 16-27 passing. The Patriots had a solid ground game with 105 yards, led by running back Rhamondre Stevenson’s 70 yards on 16 carries.
Mike Vrabel: ‘There’s Times When It Doesn’t Look Great’
Vrabel didn’t pretend that the offense clicked the whole game because it didn’t.
New England had three touchdowns in the first half, and one of those came from defensive back Marcus Jones’ 26-yard interception return for a score. The Patriots didn’t score in the second half until the fourth quarter when the Texans had pulled within a score
“There’s times when it doesn’t look great. We know going against a great defense, which that’s what they are, it’s hard. There’s some tough sledding and some plays that don’t look great. … We always talk about it only takes one play,” Vrabel said.
New England went 3-14 on third downs and only had 13 first downs for the game. The Patriots also had three fumbles and lost two of them. Yards were hard to come by with 3.9 yards per pass play and 3.3 yards per running play.
Drake Maye Steps Up When Needed Most
Maye’s first touchdown throw came on a 28-yard pass to wide receiver DeMario Douglas down the middle of the field on a fourth down for a 7-0 lead. New England’s stumbling with a punt and a lost fumble allowed the Texans to grab a 10-7 lead before the Jones pick six.
Maye then led the Patriots to a touchdown with a 7-yard strike to wide receiver Stefon Diggs with 3:12 left in the half, 21-10. Diggs had four catches for 40 yards against his old team in the process.
Houston crept back in with two field goals in the second half, but Maye put his team up by two scores again with a 32-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte. For Boutte, it was one of three catches for 75 yards on the day.
“To be able to stay the course, and trust Kayshon, and give him a great ball that was him or nobody, those guys have kind of done that all year,” Vrabel said.
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