As the New England Patriots ready for their first Divisional Round game in seven years, wide receiver Kayshon Boutte hasn't found the preparation all that difficult.
Despite being faced with a Houston Texans defense that ranks second in the league in points allowed and first in yards surrendered, Boutte views the challenge ahead as overcoming opposing talent rather than any uniqueness or wrinkles within DeMeco Ryans' scheme.
"I wouldn't say one of the toughest," Boutte replied when asked if Houston was one of the toughest NFL units he's had to prepare for, via Boston.com. "At the end of the day, we know we're going to get man coverage. We've gotta beat it. It's that simple.
"We're going to do the same things we've been doing. At the end of the day, we want to make them try to adjust to how we play. They're not too complicated on defense. Not too many different looks. We get a good tell at what they're doing. But just being us."
To Boutte's point, Houston doesn't disguise things or run a high degree of overly complicated blitzes compared to most other teams. The Texans are stacked with playmakers at multiple levels, which allows them to go at teams and win without the need for extra bells and whistles.
Anchored by pass rushers Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, the NFL's leading duo with 153 combined pressures, Houston used a four-man rush on 75.8% of plays this season, per Next Gen Stats. That's the third-highest rate in the league, as is the team's 38 sacks on non-blitzing plays.
During the Texans' nine-game winning streak to conclude the regular season, they ran man coverage 31.8% of the time, 10th in the league during that span. The ability of cornerbacks such as Derek Stingley Jr., who didn't give up more than 45 yards in coverage in any game during that timeframe, caters to a heavier reliance on the secondary lining up one-on-one, as does the defense's physicality.
"I think they're just physical cornerbacks," Boutte said. "But at the end of the day, I'm physical too. So that's a matchup I like every day of the week.
"Derek Stingley, good cornerback. Played against him in college, last year too, but I look forward to the matchup."
Although Boutte is confident, quarterback Drake Maye still must handle beating man better than he did in the wild-card win over the Los Angeles Chargers. He threw for just 7 yards on 1-of-7 passing last weekend when facing man coverage, and he's likely going to need to make decisions quickly against Houston's rush.
Ultimately, it will come down to a case of strength versus strength, with New England's No. 2 scoring offense matching the rank of Houston's scoring defense.
And lest Boutte's comments on preparing for Houston get misconstrued as bulletin board material, he did give the defensive group its flowers.
"Obviously, [Houston has] a good unit," he said. "No. 1 ranked defense, whatever you want to say. But I mean, we're a good offense too. We're not going to discredit ourselves. Just keep doing the same things we've been doing, honestly."
Which side comes out on top will be determined when the Patriots host the Texans on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
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