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Patriots Make Decision on CB Christian Gonzalez’s Status After Concussion
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Late in the Patriots’ 16–3 AFC wild-card win over the Chargers on Sunday, an apparent injury to cornerback Christian Gonzalez gave New England fans a massive scare.
Fast forward to Sunday’s divisional-round game against the Texans, and Gonzalez appears to be back in working order. The Colorado and Oregon product has no injury designation and will play, the Patriots said Friday.
Gonzalez appeared to hurt himself trying to break up a pass—something he did 10 times this regular season in 14 games. He finished the year without an interception, but was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time.
New England, which endured an uncharacteristically poor year on defense last season, finished fourth in the league in scoring defense and eighth in total defense in 2025. The Patriots will now face a Houston offense down a key component in wide receiver Nico Collins.
The last time New England advanced as far as the AFC championship without legendary coach Bill Belichick or quarterback Tom Brady was 1996, when it lost to the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI
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Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .