Petty Patriots? Players and Cardi B call out doubters after 5 takeaways in win vs. Texans

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Inside a buzzing New England Patriots locker room, edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson shouted: “Everybody picked them!”

The Patriots weren’t, according to oddsmakers, underdogs at home. But a panel of five ESPN analysts had unanimously predicted a Houston Texans upset. And the Patriots were keeping receipts. So after New England emerged from a wintry mix Sunday with a 28-16 win, the team's X account shared the "SportsCenter" clip of the Texans predictions that didn’t pan out.

Grammy Award-winning rapper Cardi B, who is expecting a child with her boyfriend Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs, shared the clip with a video of her screaming: “What are y’all talking about!!!”

And the tweet made the rounds through the Patriots’ celebratory locker room. 

The Patriots' offense was more even-keeled after an expectedly difficult day against a staunch defense. But the Patriots’ defense, who believed that narratives all week had crowned this contest as a matter of the Texans’ strong defense vs. the Patriots’ strong offense, had plenty to say.

New England defenders heard, what they believed to be, a tidal wave of Texans defensive praise that didn’t extend to New England’s defense. Chaisson, whose ambush of C.J. Stroud prompted two interceptions including a pick 6, was ready to respond.

“We saw the noise for sure,” Chaisson told Yahoo Sports. “Man, we know we hear the noise about the defense and we heard the challenge. … So that was just something that we definitely took note of and for sure that we knew it was a challenge for the defense to continue to make plays and show who's the best out on the field.

“When you talk about the Patriots, you can talk about all three sides of the ball.”

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, a top MVP candidate alongside the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford, ultimately made key plays to secure the win. But New England’s stifling defense led the charge to advance the club to its first AFC championship game in the post-Tom Brady era. Capitalizing on the wintry mix slicking New England fields and footballs alike, the Patriots forced five takeaways of a Texans unit that lost several players to injury.

And as New England clinched its spot against the Denver Broncos next week, the Patriots did not cling to pretenses about shutting out the noise or listening to only themselves.

Head coach Mike Vrabel encouraged his players to “embrace the strain.” Defensive linemen and secondary playmakers alike insisted no one believed they would be here. Real or contrived, the Patriots' legacy of riding slights perceived and intentional was alive and well on a blistery and snowy day. Tom Brady would have been proud.

 “I think we’re one of those teams that play better with a chip on our shoulder,” said Diggs, who caught four passes for 40 yards and a touchdown. “There were a handful of commentators and people, the little tidbits I do see — because I try not to see too much — they all picked Houston to win. I mean, for a good reason: That’s a good football team. And I understand their vantage point …

“Hopefully they do that again this week because that’s another good defense [in Denver] we’re about to go see.”

5 takeaways fuel Patriots defensive confidence: ‘Us against anybody’

The Patriots' offense flashed on the first series of the game, with an assertive decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the 28-yard line.

Texans safety Calen Bullock played tight coverage as Patriots receiver DeMario Douglas ran a slant. Bullock’s fingers brushed the ball, but then he fell as Douglas secured the catch, ran upfield and and scored. With 9:35 to play in the first quarter, the Patriots had their first lead. For all but two minutes and 20 seconds of the game’s remainder, they would hold the advantage.

New England’s offense was not consistent: The Patriots would punt eight times in the divisional game, ceding possession twice more on fumbles by Maye.

But Vrabel had managed expectations, as he told his offense: Playing against this defense will not be pretty. Expect “tough sledding” against a “fast, talented” unit, he told them. So the Patriots' offense stayed calm when dry spells hit.

Struggling while ahead helped. The Patriots received a cushion from their defense, which took over and took the ball away repeatedly. The Patriots had watched the Pittsburgh Steelers force two fumbles and an interception of Stroud six days earlier, and they believed: Houston’s offense was mistake-prone. If they stopped the run and made the Texans one-dimensional, they could feast. New England held Houston to a season-low 48 rushing yards — and indeed went home satiated.

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Cornerback Carlton Davis III picked off Stroud on one Chaisson pressure, Marcus Jones securing both interception and touchdown on another Chaisson pursuit. Safety Craig Woodson dove for a ball that touched but did not stay in the hands of Texans receiver Xavier Hutchinson; and then Davis picked off Stroud still again.

“They made mistakes last week and we knew that coming into the game, if they make mistakes like that, we got to capitalize and that's what we did,” Woodson told Yahoo Sports. “That's really all it was. We just do us.”

That the Patriots’ defense could do this wasn’t shocking. New England’s defense ranked fourth in points per game through the regular season and eighth in yards per game. But its defensive effort — including steadily growing trust from impromptu coordinator Zak Kuhr, and the return of injured players including defensive tackles Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga — was overshadowed much of the season by Maye’s theatrics.

And after the Texans' defense neutralized four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers in a wild-card road game, the Texans group that ranked second in points per game allowed and first in yards per game allowed through the regular season received the hype.

So New England sought to show it could keep up. Sure, the defenses were never going to directly face off. That didn’t stop the Patriots from viewing their pride as a matter of upstaging the Texans' defense.

“We knew it was going to be a fight and we just stuck together and made the plays we had to make,” linebacker Jack Gibbens told Yahoo Sports. “If we keep playing like this, sticking together, putting in the work and playing complementary defense, then I feel like I like us against anybody.”

Maye hopes to bounce back vs. Broncos: ‘I can’t be too hard on myself’

As equipment staff members passed out labeled footballs to commemorate takeaways, the Patriots' locker room members already knew who awaited them in the conference championship game.

Like Houston, the Broncos will threaten first and foremost on defense. Denver’s defense ranked third in points per game allowed this season and second in yardage.

A soft run of regular-season schedules may not have prepared Maye fully for Denver. But consecutive games against the swarming Los Angeles Chargers and All-Pro defensive front Texans have further tested his mettle.

Maye wanted some plays back Sunday. He also rebounded from them to strike when it mattered most.

“I think I could have more chances downfield and make some better throws,” Maye said after completing 16 of 20 passes for 178 yards, three touchdowns and an end-of-half interception. “But I can’t be too hard on myself [as I] move on to the next one.”

Maye’s pocket awareness, on a day when the Texans’ Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter overwhelmed his offensive linemen, could stand to improve. Maye lost one fumble when defensive tackle Tommy Togiai stripped him on a scramble and another when Anderson beat left tackle Will Campbell and swatted Maye from behind as Maye wound up to throw. Two more fumbles the Patriots recovered to retain possession.

But Maye also hit three different teammates for a touchdown. In addition to finding Douglas early, Maye threaded a 7-yard touchdown to Diggs with 3:12 to play in the first half and he led receiver Kayshon Boutte in the fourth quarter with a Boutte-or-nobody pass that Boutte nabbed with one hand.

“I was impressed,” Diggs said of Boutte’s touchdown catch. “Pop [DeMario Douglas] popped it off. I tried to follow Pop. And then I think [Boutte] was the sprinkles on top of the ice cream. He’s a hell of a player.”

So, teammates say, is Maye.