The Texans defense prepared for rookie Drake Maye in his first NFL start

“He can make sure all the metrics go to the right place,” Ryans said. “He makes good decisions with football.

“Defensively there is a lot of unknowns as this is his first appearance, so there are a lot of unknowns for us as well. We just need to get the details of our job right.”

Defensive coordinator Matt Burke has studied Maye and what the Texans expect from him. The coaches know the Patriots will try to run as much as possible to take the pressure off the rookie starter. Running is what the Patriots do best. They rank eighth with 131.4 yards per game. The passing game is their worst, averaging 119.4 yards per game, the lowest in the league.

“There’s a reason he was drafted where he was,” Burke said. “From a talent standpoint, he’s big, athletic, moves pretty well, throws on the move and has a lot of arm talent.”

“Obviously there are a lot of unknowns, but we're just trying to triangulate between what we see of him on college tape and what they've done with the structure of their offense so far this season. You can see the talent jumping off the stage.” Certainly on tape, but as always it will be about us implementing what we want to implement.

In Sunday's 23-20 win over Buffalo, the Texans limited Josh Allen to nine completions and a 30 percent completion rate, the worst in the league for a quarterback in 30 years with at least 30 attempts. And yet the Texans were still fighting for the win, needing Ka'imi Fairbairn's 59-yard field goal with no time left to clinch the victory.

There are things New England coaches can do besides running the ball to help Maye build his confidence. He wants to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible.

“There’s a lot you can do,” Burke said. “Of course we vary the protection systems with chips, maximize them and do different things. Move the bag. A lot of different teams are going to try to run screens and things like that to slow us down and stall your rush a little bit.”

“Quick throws, getting the ball out and having answers. Running the ball and holding it in short and manageable situations where it is more difficult to apply pressure. We have to be good on our early downs.”

Defenses also need to be wary of Maye's running ability. In his two seasons as a starter for North Carolina, he ran 296 times for 1,147 yards and 16 touchdowns. He reminds a lot of coaches of Allen.

“He (Maye) made a lot of plays outside the pocket,” Burke said of Maye’s college recording. “I think Josh is obviously elite and unique in that, but there are elements of that in his (Mayes) game just looking at the college video. It’s definitely something that concerns us.”

“I feel like we’ve had these conversations every week. We prepared with this mindset most of the season as far as dealing with off-the-record plays and quarterbacks that can come out of the pocket. I do.’ I think he has enough of that element in his game that we need to be aware of it.”

The Texans have played three quarterbacks who are dangerous runners and they have beaten them all. But Anthony Richardson (Colts), Williams and Allen hurt them on the ground.

Richardson ran six times for 56 yards (9.3 average) and a touchdown. Williams led the Bears with 44 yards on five carries (8.8). Allen ran four times for 54 yards (13.5). It is interesting to note that each quarterback had a long run of 19 yards.

Asked if playing against three running quarterbacks so far would help the Texans against Maye, Burke said: “I hope so. I’ll tell you on Sunday night.”

When you're a starting quarterback for the first time, you're not afraid of the unknown. It's about being aware of what the Patriots might try to do as they enter this game on March 31^st in attack and 32^nd in passing.

The Texans will do everything they can to contain the run and put as much pressure on Maye as possible. The coaches would like to force one, two or three turnovers because the Texans haven't had a takeaway in three straight games.

“Given the structure of their offense, I would be pretty shocked if they started playing things we've never seen before,” Burke said. “The nature of the unknown is fine (as far as) what exactly he likes to do, what he's good at, what throws he likes to make, where he likes to line up in the pocket and all of those things.”

CJ Stroud, who will play without the injured Nico Collins for the first time this season, has been impressed with Maye since he heard about the quarterback in college.

“I like his versatility,” Stroud said. “He is very athletic. It's really good in the pocket. He runs when he has to and not when he just feels like it. He gets the ball out on time, really top notch accuracy. I'm happy for him in his first. I'm looking forward to competing against him.

Asked if he had any advice for Maye in his first start, Stroud said: “Not this week. I keep my fingers crossed for him. I hope he performs well, but not against us.”