The New England Patriots will face one of the NFL's toughest tests on Sunday: the Houston Texans' defense. Houston has ridden its league-best defense to a 12-5 record and a dominant Wild Card win that sent the Pittsburgh Steelers into a rebuild.
The unit is great at every level, but is led by a dominant defensive line, with two elite edge defenders.
That could spell bad news for the Patriots on Sunday, and especially for young quarterback Drake Maye. A destructive pass rush could completely take over games, and New England will try to stop that from happening.
However, if the Patriots are unsuccessful, a look back at their season will show that may not be that big of a problem. Maye has been sacked a lot this season, but that hasn’t stopped him from leading New England to a lot of wins.
Drake Maye and Patriots still find success when sacked a lot
Typically, when a quarterback is on the ground a lot, it’s a disastrous game for their team. That hasn’t been the case in New England, as the team has won despite Maye often being taken down. The second-year quarterback was the fourth-most sacked QB this season, being sacked 47 times.
Ahead of him were Justin Herbert (54), Cam Ward, and Geno Smith, who were all sacked 55 times. The Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders each won 3 games, but the Los Angeles Chargers and Patriots still found ways to win a lot of games.
An even closer look at the numbers shows that the Patriots aren't affected much in games where Maye is sacked a lot. Including the Wild Card win over L.A., when Maye was sacked five times, New England is 5-2 in games he's been sacked four or more times, 3-1 when the quarterback is sacked five or more times, and 2-0 when Maye is sacked six times.
That's not how it’s supposed to work.
Drake Maye is second in the NFL in EPA per dropback when working from a clean pocket. BUT when you can pressure him – he's also second. pic.twitter.com/B0pguXUaPy
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) January 15, 2026
One reason the team still finds ways to win even when it struggles to protect the quarterback is that Maye doesn’t blink under pressure. Ian Hartitz recently pointed out that the young quarterback thrives under pressure, noting that Maye is second in EPA per drop-back when pressured and when kept clean.
In other words, the young quarterback is good from any kind of pocket, and he’ll consistently pick himself up off the ground to lead his team to victory.
Both skills will be needed on Sunday against Houston. It is important to note that the Texans are a different kind of defense than what the Patriots have seen this season, so Houston’s sacks and pressures could be more impactful.
But if any team is built to win in the face of what the Texans’ defensive line will bring, it’s New England.