Sunday Patriots Notes: Stefon Diggs’ presence dictating defensive coverage

The New England Patriots are on to the divisional round where they'll welcome the Houston Texans to Gillette Stadium, where they'll look to dethrone a top ranked defense and advance to the AFC Championship Game.

It's been a busy week here on Pats Pulpit, with our focus on the conclusion of the wild card victory over the Los Angeles Chargers and the upcoming matchup against a Texans team that has won 10 straight games. For anything else not covered previously, let's clean out the notebook. Welcome to this week's edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.

Diggs drawing attention

It's been several offseasons of searching for a true No. 1 wide receiver for the New England Patriots. In late March, the Patriots finally found one, agreeing to a three year deal with up to $69 million with Stefon Diggs.

Diggs immediately provided New England's offense with something it had been missing for years at the position, becoming the first Patriots receiver since 2019 to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark.

Opposing defenses took notice.

In a wild-card matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter made it a priority to take away the Patriots' top pass catcher, often dropping defenders off the line of scrimmage to double or bracket the four-time Pro Bowler.

Sometimes this shows up situationally," wide receiver coach Todd Downing said. Teams can study where you have a certain player or where he's targeted a lot, and so you always have to be ready for those kind of adjustments."

The result was Diggs being held to just two receptions on five targets for 19 yards. But the extra attention paid to the veteran created opportunities elsewhere, as New England's other pass catchers did enough to walk out of Gillette Stadium with a 16-3 win and a spot in the divisional round.

I think he's lining up where he's supposed to be in the big-picture puzzle, and if he runs his route the right way, it might mean that somebody else is open and they get the ball," Downing said. He knows that if that leads to us scoring points and winning, then we get to keep playing."

As the Patriots will now get to keep playing, they'll welcome the Houston Texans to Foxboro in the divisional round where Diggs could once again draw extra attention.

In Houston's wild-card victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Texans' top ranked defense was not shy of sending extra defenders towards top wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, particularly when he aligned inside - an area where Diggs has spent much of his time in the Patriots offense.

It would be no surprise to see a similar approach against Diggs this weekend, based off the blueprint Los Angeles used. New England's supporting cast could then again make them pay elsewhere, but adjustments could also be made to ensure their top receiver makes his impact.

You can handle that a lot of different ways. You can put different guys in that spot to run those routes or you can move to it different ways. A lot of different ways you can try to hide what your intentions are," said Downing.

No matter what defenders are thrown Diggs' way, the receiver will be well aware of those trying to guard him after spending last season in Houston. It will be another familiar matchup for Diggs, who posted a 100-yard game in his return to Buffalo earlier this season - success he'll look to replicate with a trip to the AFC Championship Game on the line.

I spent some time there myself, so I'm a little bit familiar with those guys," he said. That's going to be the best defense we've seen all year... It's going to definitely be a task for us - a challenge that I know we all look forward too."

McDaniels Bros

Among the many connections offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has with the Texans coaching staff is his brother Ben, who serves as the team's wide receiver coach and pass game coordinator. This will be the fourth time the two compete off against each other, and Diggs, who played under Ben last season in Houston, noted they still have the older-little brother [rivalry] thing."

We're looking forward to the opportunity. He's trying to beat us just like we're trying to beat him," Josh said. We compete in almost anything we do, honestly, which is kind of fun, and this will be no different."

Inside New England's QB room, Drake Maye has made sure to get after McDaniels on the sibling battle.

There's some friendly banter going on between Drake and Josh and the McDaniels war," quarterback coach Ashton Grant said. He's trying to get Josh riled up. Josh is a very competitive person himself, so I think Drake tries to nudge him a little bit, which is fun for the room."

End in kicks

Against a challenging Texans defense, McDaniels has one main objective for Maye, who had two turnover worthy plays last weekend, and his offense: Ending every drive with some form of a kick would be ideal for us this week," he said. And [Maye] understands that. So, I trust him implicitly to do the right thing for our football team."

Pop

Drake Maye joked that his first career start against the Texans last year feels like 10 years ago. The changes from that matchup emphasizes how little carryover there is to this Sunday's game. But, one thing New England could find similar success with Sunday from last year is DeMario Pop" Douglas, who had six catches for 92 yards and his first career touchdown. Douglas was able to take advantage of Houston's man coverage, something the receivers are expecting to see again this weekend.

At the end of the day, we know we're going to get man coverage," Kayshon Boutte said this week. We got to beat it. It's that simple."

Despite taking on a smaller workload of late, Douglas' skillset has continued to make him one of New England's best man beaters this season - especially in a new downfield role (which Houston has struggled to defend at times). That could make him an underrated piece to make a difference on Sunday.

Heating up Stroud

Despite Justin Herbert being one of the best quarterbacks against the blitz this season, the Patriots decide to heat him up last Sunday night. The plan came with success, but defensive play caller Zak Kuhr noted the Patriots will want to remain game-to-game and opponent dependent with their defensive plan.

It would not be a surprise for this week to feature a similar strategy, however, as Texans' quarterback C.J. Stroud's passer rating dropped from 107.7 when kept clean to 60.9 when under pressure this season. Stroud also was a pedestrian 18th in passer rating vs. the blitz.

Alert for Autry

Along a talented Texans defensive front, Denico Autry does not get much attention for getting after opposing quarterbacks. Instead, his main mark is felt on special team as the veteran lineman has 14 career blocked kicks, including Houston's lone block this season.

We have to do everything that we can to make it not be 15 (blocks)," said Vrabel, who coached Autry is Tennessee and noted his length and knack for timing the snap.

Special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer added Thursday the Patriots have a very high" awareness for where Autry will be.

Maye's top play

In a MVP season, there has been plenty of highlights from Drake Maye under center. But for Patriots quarterback coach Ashton Grant, one stands out among the rest: a 33-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Williams against the Giants on Monday Night Football.

Just because there's a lot of stuff going on at the line of scrimmage that he was able to take care of and communicate to the other 10 guys on offense," Grant said. And then we were able to hit an explosive, so that's one of the things that stand out."

Antonio around

Running back Antonio Gibson was in the Patriots post game locker room after the wild card victory and stayed around the facility in some capacity throughout this past week. Teammates were glad to see him around and Gibson, who tore his ACL back in Week 5, was in good spirits and shared his rehab is on track.

Week ahead

Following the divisional round, the Patriots will either be on the AFC Championship Game - where a trip to Denver would ultimately await - or begin their offseason. A regular schedule is expected to resume in the event of a win.