Story by
Patriots Will Campbell: ‘I need to play better’ after Texans win
- Story by
- Patriots Will Campbell: ‘I need to play better’ after Texans win
FOXBOROUGH – Will Campbell understands what’s on the line. The Patriots rookie also understands the challenges that he faced in Sunday evening’s AFC divisional matchup.
The starting left tackle had his hands full in the Patriots’ 28-16 win over the Houston Texans as he took on a defensive line that featured All-Pro edge rushers Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter .
Advertisement
The pass-rushing combo finished with five sacks and three forced fumbles on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye . Campbell was involved with several of those players, and after the win, didn’t mince his words.
“Whenever you’re going against good players, the margin for error is very small, and there’s just some stuff I got to clean up, and it just takes more practice,” Campbell said. “Some of my plays from this year that I wish I could have back have come whenever I had help, which is weird as (expletive), quite frankly. I just got to keep working at some other stuff. Whenever I’ve got the back of the tight end with me, I just get better.
“I need to play better. I hold myself to a higher standard than what I put out tonight.”
Hunter (15 sacks) and Anderson (12 sacks) are why the Texans came into this matchup with arguably the best defense in the NFL. The Patriots quickly found that out on Sunday as Maye and the offense struggled at times in the trenches.
Advertisement
In their third drive, Hunter strip-sacked Maye on third-and-10 at 4:34 of the first quarter. The Patriots were already backed up, and Campbell acted quickly, diving on the football at the 3-yard line. On that play, Hunter got past Hunter Henry and Morgan Moses .
Maye’s second fumble, with 58 seconds left in the first quarter, happened when the quarterback escaped out of the pocket and attempted to dive for a first down.
At the end of the second quarter, Anderson got by Campbell for a strip-sack. Once again, the rookie tackles recovered the potential turnover.
“The balls on the ground,” Campbell said. “You don’t want to give it to them on a short field. So get on there and fight for it.”
Advertisement
Anderson got his second strip-sack at 8:16 of the third quarter when he got by the Patriots’ rookie left tackle. That was the second fumble recovered by Houston.
In the end, the Patriots survived the pass-rushing onslaught from two of the best in the NFL.
Campbell said he’s thrilled to be headed to the AFC Championship game in his first NFL season.
“We got a great group of guys, super excited for the opportunity,” Campbell said. “That’s what you work for to get an opportunity like this. So to be able to experience my first year, it’s pretty cool.”
More Patriots Content
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
