Will Campbell’s comments after Patriots’ playoff win vs. Texans

New England Patriots

“I hold myself to a higher standard than what I put out tonight.”

Amid the Patriots’ 28-16 divisional-round win over the Texans on Sunday, there were still a few players on the home team who were less than thrilled with their performance at Gillette Stadium.

Alongside quarterback Drake Maye acknowledging that he needs to be “better with the football,” rookie left tackle Will Campbell took responsibility for some of the pass-blocking breakdowns in New England’s offense.

Campbell drew a tough matchup against Houston defensive end (and 2025 First-team All-Pro) Will Anderson Jr., who notched three sacks even as the Texans struggled to stay in the game. In all, the Texans totaled five sacks with two more QB hits.

“Whenever you’re going against good players, the margin for error is very small, and there’s just some stuff I got to clean up, and it just takes more practice,” Campbell told reporters after the game, according to Mark Daniels of MassLive. “Some of my plays from this year that I wish I could have back have come whenever I had help, which is weird as [expletive], quite frankly. I’ve just got to keep working at some other stuff. Whenever I’ve got the back of the tight end with me, I just get better.

“I need to play better,” Campbell acknowledged. “I hold myself to a higher standard than what I put out tonight.”

Campbell, selected fourth overall by the Patriots in the 2025 NFL Draft, has largely played well for New England. He was tabbed as the seventh best rookie in the regular season, per Pro Football Focus.

The playoffs have so far been a more difficult proposition for the former LSU standout. Campbell also had a hard time against the Chargers in the wild-card round, though he was defiant toward his critics following the win.

“I don’t give a [expletive] what anyone says, to be honest with you,” Campbell told reporters prior to the Texans game. “It’s easy to type behind a Twitter account that you know is fake. I hold myself to the highest expectation of anybody. I want to be perfect, and it’s hard for me to get told that it’s going to be hard to be perfect.”

Having struggled for a second week in a row in pass protection even as the team itself achieved victory, Campbell will now need to refocus yet again ahead of a tough test against the Broncos in the AFC Championship game.

One silver lining embedded in Campbell’s play was his capacity to limit the damage through his own hustle. Out of Maye’s four fumbles, Campbell was able to recover two of them.

“The balls on the ground,” he said of fumble recoveries. “You don’t want to give it to them on a short field. So get on there and fight for it.”

The Patriots will face the Broncos in Denver on Sunday (Jan. 25) at 3 p.m.