Former Cal football players and starting New England safeties Jaylinn Hawkins and Craig Woodson helped the Patriots move on to the AFC Championship Game with a 28-16 home victory over Houston on Sunday in an AFC Divisional Round game.

The rookie Woodson was involved in two of the five turnovers forced by New England with one of the team's four interceptions and its lone fumble recovery. Woodson also had five tackles, one quarterback hit and three passes defended.

Hawkins contributed four tackles. 

No. 2 AFC seed New England will travel to top AFC seed Denver for the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, Jan. 25 (Noon PT, CBS). The Patriots will go up against former Cal quarterback Davis Webb, who is the offensive pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Broncos, who opened their playoff schedule with a 33-30 home overtime win against No. 5 AFC seed Buffalo on Saturday but lost their starting quarterback Bo Nix for the remainder of the season with an injury. 

Two other Cal players saw their seasons come to an end with losses in Divisional Round playoff games with Jake Tonges and No. 6 NFC-seed San Francisco 49ers falling at No. 1 NFC seed Seattle on Saturday, while Elijah Hicks and No. 2 NFC seed Chicago were defeated Sunday at home by the No. 5 NFC seed Los Angeles Rams. 

Tonges started at tight end in place of injured starter George Kittle and contributed a game-high-tying five receptions for a team-high 59 yards receiving.

Hicks had one special teams tackle.