Patriots playmaker isn’t intimidated by No. 1 ranked Houston Texans defense

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Patriots playmaker isn’t intimidated by No. 1 ranked Houston Texans defense

Chris Mason · MassLive

Thu, Jan 15, 2026 ·

2 min read

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FOXBOROUGH — By just about every metric, the Houston Texans boast one of the best defenses in football this season.

DeMeco Ryans ' group is No. 1 in total defense, No. 1 in defensive EPA, No. 2 in scoring defense, and No. 3 in takeaways. While they'll certainly present a challenge for the Patriots in Sunday's divisional round matchup, Kayshon Boutte remains extremely confident in his group.

"Obviously (Houston has) a good unit. Number one ranked defense, whatever you want to say. But I mean, we're a good offense too," Boutte said. "We're not going to discredit ourselves. Just keep doing the same things we've been doing, honestly."

Boutte was asked if this is one of the toughest defenses he's needed to prepare for in the NFL.

"I wouldn't say one of the toughest. At the end of the day, we know we're going to get man coverage," Boutte said. "We've gotta beat it. It's that simple.

"...we're going to do the same things we've been doing. At the end of the day we want to make them try to adjust to how we play. They're not too complicated on defense. Not too many different looks. We get a good tell at what they're doing. But just being us."

On the boundary, Boutte will likely be matched up with Derek Stingley Jr., who was just voted to his second consecutive All-Pro Team, and Kamari Lassiter , who has broken up 17 passes this season.

"I think they're just physical cornerbacks. But at the end of the day, I'm physical too. So that's a matchup I like every day of the week," Boutte said "...Derek Stingley, good cornerback. Played against him in college, last year too, but I look forward to the matchup."

In that 41-21 Patriots loss a year ago — Drake Maye 's debut — Boutte beat Stingley clean for a 40-yard touchdown on a go ball.

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