Think about this, New England Patriots fans:

The two quarterbacks who going into Sunday’s AFC Divisional Round playoff game vs. the Houston Texans at snowy Gillette stood in your team’s way to Super Bowl LX were C.J. Stroud and Jarrett Stidham.

Now it’s just Stidham, a former Bill Belichick draft choice who some foolishly felt six years ago was the heir apparent to Tom Brady. He hasn’t thrown a pass in a meaningful game since 2023.

And you thought the regular season schedule was easy?

Everything is coming up Patriots, as seen in Sunday’s 28-16 win over the Texans. You watched Denver on Saturday get all the breaks needed to survive the Bills and you’re already thinking back to past Patriot Denver disasters. Then comes the word out of nowhere that Bo Nix broke his ankle and the hopes of Bronco fans everywhere.

Things to do in Denver when you win.

OK we’re getting ahead of ourselves. But the thing is, who needs QB Drake Maye to play well when the opposing team’s last five possessions of the first half were two punts and three of the opposing QB’s four interceptions?

Stroud at times in the first half yesterday looked like a high school quarterback, throwing the ball up for grabs.

“Today just wasnt my day,” he said. “It’s something Im going to learn from.”

Titans head coach DeMeco Ryans wasnt about to throw his QB under the bus.

“In a game, a lot of bad things happen,” he said. “That’s the nature of the game.”

Of course here’s the thing: As bad as Houston’s Stroud was, the Patriots defense Sunday was better than Houston’s. Stroud was 20 of 47 for 212 yards. Houston only had 48 yards rushing.

But of course you can probably figure out that the New England defense was just tired all week of hearing how dominant the Houston defense was coming in. The message: Hey, what about us?

“We’re one of the best defenses in the league, we keep showing it every Sunday,” said Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams, whom has proven to be worth every penny the Patriots paid him as a free agent last March. “It (hearing about the Titans) fueled us all week. Every week we want to come out and dominate.”

The Texans say they knew what they were in for.

“We knew their interior defensive linemen were really good players, Milton and also Barmore are really good players, and they did a good job, and they controlled the front tonight,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said, his team Divisional Round losers for the third straight year. “Last week we were able to control the front. We were able to run the ball. We did not control the front well at all, did not run it well, did not do a great job up front, did not run it well when we had opportunities. So credit to the Patriots for what they did up front with their interior defensive linemen.”

Its been that way for New England since Williams returned in mid -December after missing a month with a bad ankle. But there’s plenty of credit defensively to go around.

“They’re playing well together,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said of his team’s defense. “I feel like they’re complementing each other, and our turnovers are created by more than one guy. There’s some great efforts. But it’s somebody tipping a pass or it’s somebody that’s putting pressure that’s usually helping — or Zak’s (acting defensive coordinator Kuhr)dialing something up that kind of changes the look. We’re taking advantage of our opportunities. And that’s what it’s going to take in the playoffs, is you’ve got to take care of the ball and turn it over.”

Well,one out of two’s not bad. While Houston had five turnovers, the Patriots committed three. But Stroud was just so bad it didnt matter.

And now, it’s on to Denver and the franchise’s first AFC title game in seven years.

“Enjoy every minute of this,” Vrabel said he tells his players.

After all, the big bad Jarrett Stidham is waiting for them.

You can stop laughing in a few.

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on X (@Telegraph_TomK).