Pregame hype around Texans defense fueled Patriots defense

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Pregame hype around Texans defense fueled Patriots defense

Matt Vautour · MassLive

Mon, Jan 19, 2026 ·

3 min read

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FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots defense heard all the talk coming in about how good the Texans defense was.

The New England players knew that three Texans were named first or second-team All-Pro defense and that none of them had been.

They knew that on the basis of a defense that led the NFL in yards allowed (277.2) in the regular season and was second in points per game (17.4), that many people, including ESPN's entire NFL Live crew , had picked Houston to pull the upset.

And they took it personally heading into Sunday's 28-16 win.

"Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. We have a lot of guys over here with a chip on their shoulder," Milton Williams said. "Everybody kind of saw it. That's what I live for. To shut people up when they're talking.

"It fueled the whole defense. Nobody been talking about our defense the whole year. We'll see what they got to say today," he added. "In our mind, it was our defense vs. their defense. Who was going to make more plays? Create more plays. Stop the run. Get the ball back to our offense."

K'Lavon Chaisson, who had a sack and a quarterback hit that led to Marcus Jones ' interception return touchdown, agreed.

"I think all week we have been hearing about the other side's defense, so of course, that gives extra motivation, extra boost," he said. "Coming to the game, man, we knew everything was on our side of the ball."

The Patriots defense held quarterback C.J. Stroud to just 20-of-47 passing for 212 yards. They intercepted him four times and sacked him three more. Houston rushed for just 48 yards on 22 carries.

Christian Barmore said the Patriots were happy to let that performance speak for itself.

"We see that. We just stay quiet. We let our game speak. We're not about the talk, we're about the actions. We let the game speak and see what happens."

Rookie safety Craig Woodson , who had a key fumble recovery, agreed.

"We heard a lot of talk about the Texans' defense, but at the end of the day, we worry about us. We worry about this defense, we worry about getting stops, worry about going out there and dominating. That's what we did, but we're proud of everybody on this defense."

Mike Vrabel said the Texans deserved their hype, but thought his guys were right to want recognition of their own.

"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 ... We forced second-and-long, so we stopped the run. And I'm proud of each and every guy in there."

Houston coach DeMeco Ryans tipped his cap after the game.

"We knew their interior defensive linemen were really good players, Milton and also Barmore are really good players, and they did a good job, and they controlled the front tonight," he said. "Last week we were able to control the front. We were able to run the ball. We did not control the front well at all, did not run it well, did not do a great job up front. So credit to the Patriots for what they did up front with their interior defensive linemen."

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