The Patriots have gotten on the board first in Sunday’s divisional round matchup with the Texans.
Quarterback Drake Maye threw a fourth-down touchdown to receiver DeMario Douglas to put New England up 7-0 with 9:35 left in the first quarter.
After the two teams traded punts to open the game, the Patriots started to get going with Rhamondre Stevenson’s 20-yard run to put the club in Houston territory at the 37.
New England then had third-and-14, but made it fourth-and-1 with Maye’s 13-yard completion to Stefon Diggs.
With head coach Mike Vrabel taking an aggressive mindset fourth down from the Houston 28, Maye connected with DeMario Douglas over the middle on a short pass, with Douglas taking it all the way to the end zone for the score.
Maye has started the game against this vaunted Houston defense 5-of-6 for 54 yards with a touchdown.
The Texans will not have their right tackle for Sunday’s divisional round matchup with the Patriots.
Trent Brown is inactive with an ankle injury. While multiple reporters on the scene note Brown tried to test his ankle out pregame, he will not play against New England.
Brown did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday this week before he was limited on Friday.
With Brown out, Tytus Howard is expected to slide over from left guard to right tackle. Jarrett Patterson is expected to play left guard.
The Texans will be shorthanded offensively, as receiver Nico Collins is also out with a concussion suffered in Monday night’s win over the Steelers.
Receiver Braxon Berrios is active with Collins and receiver Justin Watson out.
For the Patriots, linebacker Harold Landry (knee) is active after he was questionable for the contest.
In all for Houston, Brown, Collins, Watson, running back Jawhar Jordan, quarterback Graham Mertz, and cornerback Alijah Huzzie are inactive.
New England’s inactives are quarterback Tommy DeVito, outside linebacker Bradyn Swinson, offensive tackle Marcus Bryant, guard Caedan Wallace, tight end CJ Dippre, cornerback Kobee Minor, and defensive tackle Eric Gregory.
Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham can view it as a tall test, or a golden opportunity.
If Stidham manages to engineer a victory next weekend in the AFC Championship, he’ll become only the second quarterback in the modern era of football to get his first start of the season in the playoffs and win.
Stidham will get the start in place of Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, who suffered a broken ankle near the end of Saturday’s overtime win against the Bills.
Via Kalyn Kahler of ESPN.com, six quarterbacks since 1950 have started a postseason game after not starting a single game in the regular season. Only Frank Reich won, replacing Jim Kelly for the epic 1992 wild-card game against the Oilers, in which the Bills erased a 35-3 third-quarter deficit for a 41-38 overtime win.
Reich got another win the next weekend, beating the Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium in the divisional round, 24-3. (Kelly took over from there.)
Even though Reich hadn’t started a game during the 16-game 1992 season, he had thrown 47 passes in five appearances. Stidham didn’t throw a single pass during the 17-game 2025 regular season. Or during the 17-game 2024 regular season.
Stidham, via Kahler, will be only the second quarterback to get his first start of the season in the conference title game or later. In 1972, Roger Staubach made his first start of the year in place of Craig Morton in the NFC Championship; the Cowboys lost to Washington, 26-3.
Stidham last played in Weeks 17 and 18 of the 2023 season, after the Broncos benched Russell Wilson for financial reasons. Stidham also started two games at the end of the 2022 season, after the Raiders benched Derek Carr for financial reasons. Those are Stidham’s only four career starts.
In seven days, he’ll be facing either the team that drafted him in 2019 (the Patriots), or the Houston successors to the Oilers franchise that fell victim to Frank Reich, 33 years ago.
Four years ago, the Browns made the single worst transaction in NFL history, trading for quarterback Deshaun Watson, ripping up his existing deal, and signing him to a five-year, fully-guaranteed, $230 million contract.
The fact that it was such a bad deal for the don’t-call-us-dysfunctional Browns makes it a great deal for a previously dysfunctional Houston franchise that found an exit ramp from a very awkward situation.
In early 2022, Watson had missed a full season of football, not playing in 2021 while the Texans waited for the right opportunity to trade him. (Watson became disenchanted with the Texans after they allegedly ignored his input for coaching and G.M. hires.) He had more than 20 civil lawsuits arising from allegations of misconduct during massage-therapy sessions, with an inevitable suspension on the table. Even with those lawsuits pending and a suspension looming, Texans G.M. Nick Caserio found four teams that were willing to meet Houston’s trade requirements, allowing the Browns, Panthers, Falcons, and Saints to make their cases directly to Watson.
The Browns were the first team out. They responded by making Watson a financial offer he couldn’t refuse. And so Watson went to Cleveland, with the Texans picking up three first-round picks, two third-round picks, and a fourth-round pick from Cleveland.
Caserio moved most of those picks in trades. The Texans ended up collecting at least 10 new players. And while not all of them panned out, three key members of the currently dominant defense arrived with the draft-day ammunition the Texans acquired by moving on from a franchise quarterback who no longer wanted to play for his original franchise: defensive end Will Anderson Jr., cornerback Kamari Lassiter, and safety Calen Bullock.
If all the Texans got from the Watson deal was Anderson, it would have been a resounding win.
The trade isn’t the only reason the Texans got back on track. They hired and fired David Culley after one year before hiring and firing Lovie Smith after one year before getting the right coach in DeMeco Ryans. Still, Caserio’s ability to find a clear path out of the seemingly hopeless Deshaun Watson maze became a key piece in the development of a team that is getting ready to play for a berth in the AFC Championship, while the Browns are trying to replace the two-time coach of the year who took the fall for the disastrous decision to trade for, and to pay big money to, Watson.
Saturday’s stunning AFC division-round game between the Bills and Broncos carried an even more stunning post-script.
Denver quarterback Bo Nix has a broken ankle, and he’s done for the year.
Enter Jarrett Stidham, a 29-year-old career backup who has four career starts in seven NFL seasons.
And if the Patriots beat the Texans to advance to the AFC Championship, Stidham will be facing the team that made him a fourth-round pick in 2019, Tom Brady’s final year in New England.
Stidham played sparingly during his three years with the Patriots. In 2020, Cam Newton started 15 games, with Brian Hoyer starting one. In 2021, Stidham missed much of the season after offseason back surgery, eventually landing at No. 3 on the depth chart, behind Mac Jones and Hoyer.
Stidham was traded to the Raiders in 2022. He started two late-season games after Derek Carr was benched for financial reasons. A year later, in his first year with the Broncos, Stidham started two late-season games after Russell Wilson was benched for financial reasons.
Next Sunday, Stidham will have the biggest start of his career, by far. And it could come against the team that drafted him and employed him for three seasons. Or, alternatively, he’ll be facing the best defense in the entire NFL.
