Patriots’ defense gets unexpected boost from surprising Texans' absence

The Patriots are set to host the Texans in the divisional round on Sunday, after quite an exciting slate of games that already determined where the conference championships will be held. If New England wins to head to the AFC Championship Game, they will face the Broncos in Denver, whereas the winner of the Rams-Bears game will head to Seattle.

But before that, the Patriots have to get their second playoff win this season against a very good Texans' defense, which they are hopefully more prepared for after taking down the Chargers last week, who also had a dominant defensive front.

Fortunately, they just got unexpected good news from the Texans' inactive report: familiar tackle Trent Brown will not play, making an instant win for a healthy Patriots' defensive line.

Considering his size alone, Brown not being in the lineup is good news for New England. And then, of course, is the bad news for QB CJ Stroud, who will be working with a backup right tackle in the biggest game of his career.

The Patriots' defense has a chance to exploit Trent Brown's absence

The Patriots will need to take advantage of the opportunity they are being given with Brown sidelined, especially since they will have their full defensive starters playing in this game for the first time since November 13.

They are at their healthiest right now, which is not something many teams are fortunate enough to have at this point in the season, and that can become a momentum shifter in the Patriots' favor.

It's a big blow to Stroud's offensive line, which has already struggled quite a bit this year, as we saw last week against the Steelers with the multiple fumbles.

It's now New England's turn to get that going, and with one less starter to go through, it should be much easier. We'll just have to see if they can get it done and head to their first AFCCG since their last Super Bowl run.