On the first snap of the Patriots’ second possession, Gronkowski corralled a 45-yard pass from Brady, taking advantage of fallen Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus to provide New England a first down inside the Texans’ 10-yard line.
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The Patriots took a 7-0 lead when former Texan Martin got away from rookie Kevin Johnson and was wide open in the end zone for a two-yard touchdown.
The injury brought an abrupt end to a stellar rookie campaign in which Rawls had 830 yards and four touchdowns filling in for injured starter Marshawn Lynch, who is recovering for surgery for a sports hernia.
New England’s offensive line did a solid job of keeping quarterback Tom Brady from absorbing too many hits, but rookie guard Tre’ Jackson struggled, picking up a pair of holding penalties. Three plays later, running back James White scored on a 2-yard run for a 27-6 lead with 12:04 left in the game.
The Texans’ pass defense is already one of the best in the National Football League this season, giving up the third-fewest passing yards a game at 218.3 yards per contest.
Keeping with the tone of such postgame comments, it’s not exactly common to see Belichick going all Pete Carroll pumped and jacked with any player during a midweek practice, but there he was playing for the cameras with Gronkowski during the media portion of last Thursday’s practice.
Houston’s team had many familiar faces from New England, including head coach Bill O’Brien, starting quarterback Brian Hoyer and nose tackle Vince Wilfork.
Coach Bill Belichick was impressed with the work of the front seven on his defense.
Houston gave up 30 points and 187 total rushing yards to Buffalo last weekend, but before that the defense had allowed a mere 35 total points over their last four games, all wins. The organization, myself, (we) just rehabbed really hard. “I keep in touch with a lot of the players I played with in college, so it’s good to have him here”.
“There’s no one I trust more than Gronk”, quarterback Tom Brady said. The star defensive end wore a cast that enclosed his fingers in a club-like ball.
Nobody has seriously been accusing Gronkowski of overselling the injury that night in Denver, though comparing it to Paul Pierce’s wheelchair incident might be a fair jab in hindsight. If they happen out in the middle of the field, we all understand that, that’s the way it goes.
Injuries were a killer for the Patriots yesterday, despite the win.
But the Patriots have made a dynasty, in part, out of managing to hang in even when the detritus is flying all around them. Shame on them if they don’t get it done.
“We control what we can control”, Texans defensive end JJ Watt said. “Just want to talk about the game”.
“It’s something we know”, J.J. Watt said. “Had a big touchdown catch. It’s good to have him out there”.
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Still hope he’s invited on the cruise.
