Jabaal Sheard led the way for that group with a pair of sacks and two forced fumbles on crucial third down passing situations in the second half, one of which led to a fumble recovery for New England in the red zone. Another relentless Patriots march through January in frigid Foxborough, another realization that the best team in the AFC is the same as it ever was. It provides the shortest path toward this season’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., and it also allows them more time to heal their injuries.
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If Clowney can give the Texans another pass rushing threat and take pressure off a hopefully much better J.J. Watt, then the Texans should win next week. Just add him to the star pile of casualties that includes linebacker Dont’a Hightower and wide receiver Julian Edelman. He will be placed on the injured reserve, according to an ESPN report.
This week, the injury bug claimed safety Devin McCourty (ankle), defensive tackle Dominique Easley (thigh) and running back LeGarrette Blount (hip). Once able to take the lead, the Patriots approach became very conservative. 500 and the Bengals and Broncos have to wonder about their quarterbacks, the Patriots heal and watch, cleaning up the details that had bedeviled them before. It’s old friend Darrelle Revis in a return match from the 30-23 victory the Pats eked out against the Jets at Gillette. “We’ll put it in our pocket, but it’s on to the (Tennessee) Titans”.
It was a tough past few weeks for Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. But if the Texans are able to knock off the Patriots on Sunday night, they will not only do something that hasn’t been done in over a decade, but they will have all the momentum heading into a decisive match-up against Indianapolis a week later. The Patriots finished with six sacks on the night and held Houston to just 189 net yards and seven first downs in the dominating performance. Both teams needed a win here pretty badly, but it was pretty much all Patriots the entire game. He wants to win them all, but the Titans come first.
Except, Gronkowski’s knee turned out to only be bruised and his absence was only endured for one game, last week’s uncharacteristic loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I think, in particular, the White play, it goes back to the whole issue of the angle of the camera”, Belichick said, “and was his heel actually on the white or was his toe on the ground and his heel above the white?” The injury is more concerning because he already missed a game this season after a concussion on November 16.
“Good to go” doesn’t necessarily equal “100 percent” though. “We try to compete every week at our highest level”.
They have won 12 division titles and have 12 playoff berths since realignment in 2002, the most in the NFL.
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“That’s great. That’s what you start with, is winning your division”.
