Tom Brady weighs Patriots’ schedule before matchup with Texans’ 'ridiculous' defense

The New England Patriots had one of the easiest regular-season schedules this year.

They didn’t find much trouble getting a 14-3 record, and some fans and analysts expressed concerns about how they might fall back to Earth in the playoffs.

That wasn’t the case in their 16-3 wild-card win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Mike Vrabel’s defense was physical and dominant, and even with an erratic Drake Maye, they managed to pull off the win. 

Now, they will have to step up a notch, as they’ll host the Houston Texans and their bruising defense. That’s why even franchise legend Tom Brady knows they will have their work cut out for them.

Tom Brady talks about the Patriots’ easy schedule and their matchup with Texans

Talking to FOX’s Colin Cowherd, the seven-time Super Bowl champion admitted that the Patriots’ competition wasn’t that good this year. Then again, he doesn’t think that should be an issue.

“The Patriots haven’t had, when you look at their schedule, the quality of competition hasn't been what some other teams may have had,” Brady said. “But that doesn’t matter. That’s not the Patriots’ fault. You play who’s on the schedule.”

Brady later wondered how the Patriots’ offense would be able to keep Drake Maye safe and sound from the Texans’ hard-hitting pass-rush: 

“But this defense of Houston is ridiculous, and they could put a lot of pressure on you. I'm excited about what does Josh (McDaniel) do to try to keep some of the risk mitigated from what Drake's done this year,” Brady continued. “...There are very high expectations in Foxborough. They're thinking one thing, that they're going to go in there and kick some butt. But Houston is going to have a lot to say about that, too.”

Bad teams don’t win 15 games in a season, regardless of who they go against. This is the National Football League, and anybody can beat anybody on any given Sunday. Also, the Patriots beat some playoff-caliber teams to get to this spot, so there was nothing fluky about their success.

Now, they will face their biggest challenge of the season, going against arguably the best defense in the league.