For the Texans, it’s not hard to identify who that player is. During last week’s preview of the Bills matchup, fans said there was “no way” the Bills would score 30 points (Madden predicted 35).
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Though the Houston Texans are only a 6-6 team, they pose a real threat to the Patriots for two reasons.
The Houston Texans had been getting really incredible play from their defense over the last five or so weeks. Led by JJ Watt and Johnathan Joseph, this team has really put together an incredible string of games. Quarterback Brian Hoyer tossed three scoring passes last week – the sixth time in seven games he has multiple touchdown passes – and has an emerging superstar in DeAndre Hopkins, who has 10 touchdown receptions and is third in the league with 1,169 yards. TB12 was asked how he’s feeling after taking so many hits recently. In other words, if the football gods told you the Texans will finish 9-7 and you can pick the game they’ll lose, you’d be an idiot not to pick this game.
Maybe this loss to the Eagles was just about the Patriots trying to deal with the impact of key injuries they’ve suffered on their roster.
The good news is that Gronkowski is back at practice, and that he has a brace on his knee, according to NFL’s Kevin Patra.
For wide receivers, Danny Amendola is coming back from his injury and will need to be owned as Tom Brady needs receivers to haul in touchdowns.
Brandon LaFell: LaFell is having a rough 2015 after a particularly strong finish to last season’s Super Bowl run. Most of this has been LaFell’s awful catch rate as it seems like his stone hands are back. I have no idea how the Patriots will keep him out of Tom Brady’s rib cage on Sunday. With those two things, you can win any week. Brady doesn’t have a very reliable target to throw to, and the Texans defense is playing fantastic right now. One is what they did to Drew Brees, the other what they were unable to do to Tyrod Taylor. Against New England quarterbacks are never completely sure who’s blitzing or who’s in coverage, or what coverage they’re running.
Using Nate Silver’s “2015 NFL Predictions,” a model that rates each team and then projects how the regular season and playoffs will play out, we can get a better sense of which teams are the true Super Bowl contenders. On the ground they have been more forgiving, allowing 4.6 yards per attempt. When you’re talking about passing game and pressures and those types of things, there are many variables that could dictate whether or not the defense gets pressure on you or doesn’t. We’ve got a good d-line, a good d-front.
The Texans’ rushing attack has struggled mightily since Arian Foster was lost for the season, so the Patriots won’t need to stack the line to stop Chris Polk, Jonathan Grimes or Alfred Blue.
Remember how this went down three years ago?
It was very surprising to see Rob Gronkowski return to the practice field on Thursday. If Gronk can Gronk, the Texans are going to be in for some trouble. The Patriots routed them again, 41-28.
The New England Patriots are in an unfamiliar situation as they head south to play the Houston Texans.
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One of the things tracked by the NFL’s NextGen stats is player speed. The two-game skid has dropped the Patriots to the No. 3 seed in the AFC behind Cincinnati and Denver. It’s been a long time since a Bill Belichick coached Patriots team has made such an ill-advised play.
