Texans vs New England Patriots Match Player Stats and Game Recap: Who Stood Out?

The most searched Texans vs New England Patriots match player stats come from the AFC Divisional Round on January 18, 2026, when New England beat Houston 28-16 in snowy Foxborough, Massachusetts, to reach its first AFC Championship Game in seven years. Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes, Carlton Davis III intercepted two passes, and C.J. Stroud’s four first-half interceptions sank the Texans. This recap breaks down every key stat line by position, explains the plays that decided the game, and puts the numbers in context with team totals, records, and the history between these two franchises.

Texans vs New England Patriots Match Player Stats at a Glance

The New England Patriots defeated the Houston Texans 28-16 in the AFC Divisional Round on January 18, 2026, at Gillette Stadium. Maye threw three touchdown passes while Stroud threw four interceptions, one of them returned for a score. Kayshon Boutte led all receivers with 75 yards, and Rhamondre Stevenson led all rushers with 70 yards.

The table below lists the main stat lines from both teams, based on the official box score published by the Houston Texans.

Player	Team	Position	Key Stats
Drake Maye	NE	QB	16/27, 179 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT
C.J. Stroud	HOU	QB	20/47, 212 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
Rhamondre Stevenson	NE	RB	16 carries, 70 yards; 4 catches, 11 yards
TreVeyon Henderson	NE	RB	12 carries, 25 yards
Woody Marks	HOU	RB	14 carries, 17 yards; 2 catches, 19 yards
Kayshon Boutte	NE	WR	3 catches, 75 yards, 1 TD
Stefon Diggs	NE	WR	4 catches, 40 yards, 1 TD
DeMario Douglas	NE	WR	2 catches, 36 yards, 1 TD
Jayden Higgins	HOU	WR	6 catches, 59 yards
Dalton Schultz	HOU	TE	2 catches, 47 yards
Xavier Hutchinson	HOU	WR	4 catches, 44 yards
Christian Kirk	HOU	WR	2 catches, 20 yards, 1 TD

The headline numbers tell a simple story: the Patriots made fewer mistakes and turned Houston’s mistakes into points. Maye completed 59.3 percent of his passes with a 100.7 passer rating, while Stroud completed just 42.6 percent with a 28.0 rating.

Game Background and Playoff Stakes

The Texans traveled to Foxborough as the AFC South’s playoff representative after a wild card win in Pittsburgh, while the Patriots entered as one of the conference’s top seeds. The game was Mike Vrabel’s first postseason run as New England’s head coach, and Houston coach DeMeco Ryans was trying to end a streak of divisional round exits. Houston’s defense arrived with a reputation as one of the league’s most suffocating units, which made the matchup a test of Maye’s poise against elite pressure.

For New England, the stakes carried extra weight. A win would send the Patriots to their 16th conference championship game and their first since the 2018 season, when they won their sixth Super Bowl title under Bill Belichick. Fans who followed the Belichick years remember how routine these January wins once felt, and this game marked the franchise’s return to that level.

Weather also shaped the contest. Snow and rain fell throughout the game in cold conditions, and ball security became a theme for both quarterbacks. For more football and sports storylines like this one, readers can browse our latest news section.

Quarterback Duel: Drake Maye Against C.J. Stroud

Drake Maye won the quarterback battle by producing three touchdown passes on only 27 attempts. Maye, who later finished as the 2025 MVP runner-up, threw scoring passes to DeMario Douglas, Stefon Diggs, and Kayshon Boutte. He also threw one interception and fumbled four times, losing two of those fumbles. Houston sacked him five times, so his efficiency came under steady pressure.

C.J. Stroud had one of the roughest playoff outings in recent memory. Stroud finished 20 of 47 for 212 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions. At halftime, he had completed only 10 of 26 passes for 124 yards, and all four of his interceptions came before the break. His 28.0 passer rating was the lowest by a starting quarterback in a playoff game since Brian Hoyer, who also played for Houston, more than a decade earlier.

The contrast is clear in the volume. Stroud attempted 20 more passes than Maye but produced only 33 more passing yards. Houston’s offense had to throw because it fell behind early, and the Patriots’ secondary took advantage of nearly every risky throw.

After the game, Stroud said he felt he had let people down. That honest reaction captured how much the turnovers, rather than the Patriots’ offense, decided the outcome.

Running Back Production on a Snowy Field

Rhamondre Stevenson was the most productive running back in the game with 70 rushing yards on 16 carries. His longest run went for 20 yards, and he added four catches for 11 yards out of the backfield. Stevenson gave New England a reliable option on early downs when footing was difficult.

Rookie TreVeyon Henderson struggled to find space, gaining 25 yards on 12 carries with a long of 6. Maye chipped in 10 rushing yards on four scrambles. As a team, New England ran 32 times for 105 yards, a modest 3.3 yards per carry, but enough to keep the clock moving in the second half.

Houston’s ground game never got going. Woody Marks, who had run for 112 yards and a touchdown in the wild card win over Pittsburgh, managed only 17 yards on 14 carries against New England. Marks briefly left with a shoulder injury before returning. Nick Chubb added 14 yards on four carries, and the Texans finished with just 48 rushing yards on 22 attempts. That lack of balance put the entire offensive load on Stroud’s arm in poor weather.

Wide Receiver and Tight End Stats

Kayshon Boutte delivered the signature catch of the game and led all receivers with 75 yards. His fourth-quarter touchdown came against Texans standout cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., and he hauled it in with one hand to push New England’s lead to 28-16. Boutte caught three of his five targets, and his longest gain covered 32 yards.

Stefon Diggs, a former Texan, caught four passes for 40 yards and a touchdown against his old team. DeMario Douglas opened the scoring with a 28-yard touchdown, part of his two-catch, 36-yard day. Tight ends Austin Hooper and Hunter Henry combined for two catches and 19 yards.

On the Houston side, rookie Jayden Higgins led the team with six catches for 59 yards on 10 targets. Xavier Hutchinson saw a team-high 13 targets but caught only four for 44 yards, a sign of how difficult the conditions and coverage were. Christian Kirk scored Houston’s only touchdown on a 10-yard pass.

Tight end Dalton Schultz produced 47 yards on two catches, including a 42-yard gain, but he left in the first quarter with a calf injury and did not return. Losing Schultz early removed one of Stroud’s most dependable targets for nearly the entire game.

Defensive Standouts Who Changed the Game

New England’s secondary decided this game, and Carlton Davis III was its best player. Davis, a free agent addition paired with Christian Gonzalez at cornerback, recorded two interceptions and four passes defensed. Davis also left later in the contest with a head injury and was ruled out for the rest of the game.

Marcus Jones made the biggest single defensive play. His 26-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter gave the Patriots the lead for good. It was his seventh career interception and the third pick-six of his career.

Linebacker Robert Spillane made a key stop in the fourth quarter. With Houston trailing, Spillane batted down Stroud’s fourth-down pass intended for Xavier Hutchinson, giving the ball back to New England. Spillane had left in the first quarter with a thumb injury but returned to finish the game.

Houston’s defense played well enough to win. Will Anderson Jr. recorded three sacks, and the Associated Press credited him with two forced fumbles. Danielle Hunter also strip-sacked Maye deep in Patriots territory, but left tackle Will Campbell fell on the loose ball. CBS Sports noted that the Texans’ defense controlled much of the game despite the final score.

Scoring Summary by Quarter

The Patriots won the game in the second quarter, outscoring Houston 14-7 during a turnover-heavy stretch. Houston scored 3, 7, 6, and 0 points by quarter, while New England scored 7, 14, 0, and 7.

First quarter: Maye hit Douglas for a 28-yard touchdown with 9:35 left in the opening period. Houston answered with a field goal to make it 7-3.

Second quarter: The Texans briefly led 10-7 early in the quarter before Stroud threw his second interception. Jones then returned an interception for a touchdown, Diggs added a receiving score, and Kirk caught a 10-yard touchdown for Houston. New England carried a 21-10 lead into halftime.

Third quarter: Houston opened the half with a 25-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 21-13, then added a second straight field goal drive to make it 21-16. The Patriots went three-and-out repeatedly, and the game tightened.

Fourth quarter: Boutte’s one-handed touchdown restored a two-score lead at 28-16. Houston later had a deep shot to Higgins disrupted by contact from Christian Gonzalez that drew no pass interference flag, and the Texans never got closer.

Team Stats Comparison

The team totals show a remarkably even game in yardage that turned on turnovers. New England outgained Houston by only seven yards, 248 to 241.

Team Stat	Texans	Patriots
Final score	16	28
Total yards	241	248
Net passing yards	193	143
Rushing yards (attempts)	48 (22)	105 (32)
Turnovers	5	3
Sacks allowed	3	5
Pass completion rate	42.6%	59.3%

Houston committed five turnovers to New England’s three. The Patriots also recovered two of their own fumbles and turned one interception into a defensive touchdown, which explains the 12-point margin far better than yardage does.

Historical Records and Milestones From the Game

Several records and streaks came out of this game, which is part of why the Texans vs New England Patriots match player stats still draw so much interest.

• Stroud became only the second player in the last 35 years to throw four interceptions in a single playoff half.
• With three more fumbles that Houston recovered, Stroud became the first player in NFL history with five fumbles and five interceptions in one postseason.
• The Texans fell to 0-7 all time in the divisional round and lost at that stage for the third straight season under Ryans.
• New England extended its winning streak in divisional round games to nine.
• The Patriots tied the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most AFC Championship Game appearances in NFL history.

Previous Meeting: The 2024 Regular-Season Game

The divisional round game was a rematch with roles reversed from October 2024. On October 13, 2024, Stroud threw three touchdown passes as Houston beat New England 41-21 in Foxborough, spoiling Maye’s first NFL start. Joe Mixon ran for 102 yards in that game, and Stefon Diggs, then a Texan, caught six passes for 77 yards and a touchdown.

That win was Houston’s first ever at New England after an 0-7 record at Gillette Stadium, including playoffs. Maye threw a 40-yard touchdown to Boutte late in the first half and a 35-yard touchdown to Douglas in the fourth quarter, the same two receivers who scored for him again in January 2026. Fifteen months later, Maye flipped the result and Diggs scored for the other side.

What the Result Meant for Both Franchises

The win launched New England’s run to Super Bowl LX. The Patriots traveled to Denver for the AFC Championship Game, where the Broncos started Jarrett Stidham after Bo Nix broke his ankle in the previous round. New England won the AFC title, but the Seattle Seahawks beat the Patriots 29-13 in the Super Bowl in February.

For Houston, the loss raised hard questions about the offense and the quarterback position. Yahoo Sports framed the offseason as a period of questions surrounding Stroud, especially after his turnover struggles across two playoff games.

Fans hoping for a third chapter in 2026 will have to wait. Houston’s 2026 regular-season schedule, released in May, does not include New England, so a rematch could only come in the postseason. That makes the divisional round box score the most recent Texans vs New England Patriots match player stats on record as of late October 2026.

Conclusion

The Patriots beat the Texans 28-16 because their defense turned Houston’s mistakes into points while Drake Maye made just enough plays through heavy pressure. Carlton Davis III, Marcus Jones, and Kayshon Boutte delivered the decisive moments, while Will Anderson Jr. and Houston’s defense kept the game close for nearly four quarters. Stroud’s four first-half interceptions remain the defining stat of the night. Whenever these teams meet again, this game will be the measuring stick for both quarterbacks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the Texans vs Patriots divisional round game?

The New England Patriots won 28-16 over the Houston Texans on January 18, 2026, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The victory sent New England to its first AFC Championship Game in seven years, while Houston fell to 0-7 all time in divisional round games under any coach.

How many interceptions did C.J. Stroud throw against the Patriots?

C.J. Stroud threw four interceptions, all in the first half, and finished 20 of 47 for 212 yards and one touchdown. Carlton Davis III intercepted two of those passes, and Marcus Jones returned one 26 yards for a touchdown. Stroud’s 28.0 passer rating was one of the lowest in recent playoff history.

What were Drake Maye’s stats in the game?

Drake Maye completed 16 of 27 passes for 179 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, earning a 100.7 passer rating. He also ran four times for 10 yards. Houston sacked him five times, and he fumbled four times, losing two in the snowy, rainy conditions at Gillette Stadium.

Who led both teams in rushing and receiving?

Rhamondre Stevenson led all rushers with 70 yards on 16 carries for New England. Kayshon Boutte led all receivers with three catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. For Houston, Woody Marks rushed for 17 yards on 14 carries, and Jayden Higgins led the team with six catches for 59 yards.

When did the Texans and Patriots play before this playoff game?

The teams last met in the regular season on October 13, 2024, when Houston won 41-21 in Foxborough. That game was Drake Maye’s first NFL start, and C.J. Stroud threw three touchdown passes. It was also the Texans’ first win at New England in franchise history.