Trio of INTs finishes job
Defense shuts door in 2nd half
FOXBORO — Brock Osweiler came bearing gifts, and the Patriots secondary were more than willing to accept them.
The Rutgers trio of Devin McCourty, Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon all picked off passes in the second half as the Patriots pulled away from the Texans last night, 34-16, to advance to their sixth straight AFC championship game next Sunday.
“We always talk about to win games in the playoffs, you have to create turnovers,” Harmon said. “Dev’s play was amazing, Logan’s came from being aware and Patrick Chung had good coverage on the last interception, forcing Osweiler to throw into tight coverage and he overthrew it. Basically it was just people doing their job.”
The Patriots were well in control of the contest early on, leading 14-3 after one quarter before a pair of turnovers made things interesting. A Tom Brady interception led to a Nick Novak 27-yard field goal, while a Dion Lewis fumble on the ensuing kickoff led to the Texans’ lone touchdown — a 10-yard Osweiler pass to tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz that narrowed the margin to 14-13.
“In playoff football, it’s not always going to be as you picture it,” Ryan said. “It was a little like the Baltimore game with the turnovers where we gave up two touchdowns. We held them to three the first time, but we have to do better on the second one.
“We’ve been there before and we didn’t panic. We forced them to kick field goals, and field goals aren’t going to beat us.”
The defense certainly stepped up in the second half, forcing three turnovers, recording a sack and making life miserable for Osweiler in the pocket. McCourty was quick to distribute the credit to the guys in the trenches who put some heat on the beleaguered Texans quarterback.
“On my interception, the ball was behind me and Logan’s interception was on a high pass,” McCourty explained. “That comes from the guys up front causing pressure and not letting the quarterback feel comfortable back there. When the secondary is getting interceptions, it’s usually because the front four and the front seven are doing a good job.”
When they weren’t forcing turnovers, they were able to keep the speedy Texans wide receivers from making plays. The ever-dangerous DeAndre Hopkins caught six passes for 65 yards, none more than 19 yards, while Will Fuller had three receptions for 16 yards and a brutal drop in the end zone.
“We’ve been playing good defense, keeping the points down,” Ryan said. “In our zones, we wanted to play fundamentally sound. In our man, we wanted to get on Hopkins, smother those guys and make Osweiler make great throws. Anything high or behind, we wanted to take advantage of, which we were able to do.”