FOXBORO — Mike Vrabel came straight off the practice field Friday to hold his final press conference of the week after four days of preparing for the Texans.
He’d been peppered with questions about the Texans’ vaunted defense all week, and for a moment, it looked like he was about to lose his cool when yet another reporter started with, “given the strength of the Texans’ defense…”
Vrabel closed his eyes, put his head down and rubbed his eyebrow with his thumb and pointer finger before keeping his calm and responding to the question about whether his team needed to be “perfect” this week.
Were they perfect in Sunday’s 28-16 win over the Texans? Absolutely not. But their own defense made a statement, forcing five turnovers and outshining the unit that some were comparing to the 1985 Bears and the “Legion of Boom” Seahawks.
So, was it fair to say that the Patriots’ defense took all that talk about the Texans’ defense personally this week?
“I’m sure they’re going to tell you in 30 seconds as soon as you guys go rushing out of here,” Vrabel said, smiling. “Again, they’re 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. Again, that’s how some of these things go. When it comes down to turnovers. And we’ve got to get back on track. We forced second-and-long, so we stopped the run. And I’m proud of each and every guy in there.”
For a team whose motto used to be “ignore the noise,” this new-age Patriots team heard everything, and they used it to deepen the chips on their collective shoulder.
And in the end, it didn’t matter that their own quarterback turned the ball over three times and fumbled twice more. It’s nearly impossible to lose when forcing five turnovers, and the Patriots defense — after having to hear all that talk, and seeing the graphic from ESPN’s “NFL LIVE” with all five pundits picking the Texans — was not going to accept defeat.
“It fueled the whole defense,” defensive tackle Milton Williams said after the game. “Ain’t nobody been talking about our defense all year. So, we’ll see what they gotta say today.”
Williams, who won Super Bowl LIX with the Eagles last season, was asked if he believes the Patriots have a championship-level defense. He answered immediately with, “Yes, definitely.”
The Patriots defense plays at a completely different level when they’re at full strength, like they were Sunday night with Williams, who had four pressures against the Texans, returning from injury in Week 18, linebackers Robert Spillane and Harold Landry coming back from their own ailments in the wild-card round of the playoffs, and defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga getting healthy for Sunday’s matchup.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud tossed four interceptions to three different players: cornerback Carlton Davis (twice), safety Craig Woodson and cornerback Marcus Jones, who returned his for a touchdown. Cornerback Christian Gonzalez forced a fumble, which Woodson recovered for his second turnover. The Patriots’ defense, which also caused havoc for Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in the wild-card round of the playoffs, allowed just 241 net yards, sacked Stroud three times, hit him nine times, forced 27 incompletions, allowed 2.2 yards per carry and generated 27 pressures (per PFF) on 52 dropbacks.
“We got dogs on every level of our team,” Williams said. “Everybody’s doing their job at a high level. We all on the string and communication. Everything is just working together. Our coach is putting us in position to make plays, and we just execute at a high level. That’s all we need.”
While various defenders said all the praise the Texans defense received this week motivated the unit, both Williams and safety Jaylinn Hawkins said the players didn’t discuss it all week.
“We never talked about it,” Hawkins said. “We just seen it and kept it pushing.”
Outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson led the Patriots with seven pressures on Sunday and added a sack. He was in Stroud’s face on three of the QB’s four interceptions.
Vrabel credited the Patriots’ turnovers to complementary football, saying, “our turnovers are created by more than one guy.”
“Regardless of what the playcall was, see ball, get ball,” Chaisson said. “We had the opportunity to make those plays happen, and we did.”
It helped that the Patriots defense knew, coming into the game, that they couldn’t let Stroud operate out of clean pocket.
The Patriots praised Stroud all week, but he was coming off a wild-card round win over the Steelers when he was intercepted once and fumbled five times.
“If he’s kept clean, he can make any throw that any quarterback can make,” Williams said. “But under pressure, he puts the ball in harms away, and we tried to take advantage of it.”
The Patriots are going against another top defense next week when they face off against the Broncos. They will have more potential opportunities to generate turnovers, however, with Broncos backup Jarrett Stidham, a former Patriots draft pick, playing at quarterback in place of injured starter Bo Nix.
