The New England Patriots are headed back to the AFC championship game, and they did it the hard way — through snow, rain, and a turnover-filled slugfest.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes in miserable weather, and the Patriots’ defense forced a flurry of mistakes as New England beat the Houston Texans 28-16 on Sunday in the AFC Divisional Playoffs. The win sends the Patriots to the conference title game for the first time in seven years and the 16th time in franchise history.
New England (16-3) will travel to Denver next Sunday to face the Broncos (15-3) with a Super Bowl berth on the line. The Patriots are now winners of 15 of their last 16 games and remain perfect on the road this season at 8-0.
In conditions that featured steady snow and rain, Maye was efficient when it mattered most. He finished 16 of 27 for 179 yards and three touchdowns, though the slippery ball led to a bumpy night that included one interception and four fumbles, two of which were lost. One of those miscues directly led to Houston’s first touchdown.
Still, Maye delivered the decisive blows, including a fourth-quarter strike that put the game away.
Leading 21-16 early in the final period, Maye found Kayshon Boutte behind Derek Stingley Jr. for a spectacular diving, one-handed touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone, stretching the Patriots’ lead to 27-16. New England’s defense and ball control did the rest.
Houston had a chance to respond, but after punting on fourth-and-18 from its own 21-yard line with 4:18 remaining, the Texans never recovered. New England drained the clock on the ensuing drive, and when Houston got the ball back, C.J. Stroud’s fourth-down pass to Xavier Hutchinson was batted down by Robert Spillane to seal the outcome.
The game was defined by turnovers — eight in total — the most in a playoff game since 2015. Stroud was at the center of the chaos, throwing four interceptions, all in the first half. Marcus Jones returned one of them for a touchdown, giving the Patriots a momentum-swinging score and earning him his first career postseason pick-six. It was also New England’s first playoff interception return for a touchdown since Asante Samuel did it in the 2007 AFC championship game.
Carlton Davis III snagged two interceptions for the Patriots, while Craig Woodson added both an interception and a fumble recovery. Will Anderson Jr. forced two fumbles for Houston, and Woody Marks also lost a fumble for the Texans.
Stroud finished 20 of 47 with one touchdown pass, but the night added to Houston’s growing postseason frustration. The Texans (13-6) have now lost in the divisional round in three straight seasons under coach DeMeco Ryans and fell to 0-7 all-time in that round. Stroud became the first player in postseason history with five or more interceptions and five or more fumbles across a single playoff run.
Early on, the game looked like it might tilt Houston’s way after a sequence of miscues. With the Patriots leading 7-3, Maye was strip-sacked by Danielle Hunter deep in New England territory, though the Patriots avoided disaster when left tackle Will Campbell recovered the ball. Moments later, Stroud returned the favor by throwing a deep sideline interception to Davis III.
Maye then fumbled again on a broken play, stripped by Tommy Togiai and recovered by Azeez Al-Shaair. Houston capitalized six plays later when Stroud hit Christian Kirk for a 10-yard touchdown to take a brief lead.
That advantage didn’t last long. On the Texans’ next drive, K’Lavon Chaisson pressured Stroud up the middle, forcing a lofted pass that Jones intercepted and returned for a touchdown, putting New England back in front for good. Later in the second quarter, the Patriots extended their lead to 21-10 when Maye capped a five-play, 56-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs.
The Patriots’ ninth straight divisional-round win keeps one of the league’s most storied playoff runs alive. It also marks New England’s first return to the AFC championship game since its 2018 season, which ended with the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl title under Bill Belichick.
Now, with another road test looming in Denver, the Patriots are one win away from adding yet another chapter to their postseason legacy — weather, turnovers, and all.
