Official Texans @ Patriots Game Thread, 9/24/2017

[Arky]

The 1-1 Houston Texans travel to Foxboro, MA to play the 1-1 New England Patriots this Sunday in an early game. There's not too many scenarios where the Texans can come away with a win - most involve the defense playing a perfect game complete with pick 6's, turnovers and numerous sacks with the Texan ground game finding itself and mowing down the Pats front seven. Many more scenarios have the Patriots cruising to an easy victory....

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TV = CBS (channel 11 local), noon Sunday, 09/24/2017

Announcers = Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts

The line = Patriots by 13½ to 14½

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Other Sunday viewing in the Houston area:

Yahoo!/Go90 = Sunday Morning: Baltimore vs Jacksonville (in London), Andrew Catalon, James Lofton

CBS (late) = Cincinnati @ Green Bay, Jim Nantz, Tony Romo

FOX (late) = Seattle @ Tennessee, Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis

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Prime time:

TNF = LA Rams @ San Francisco (NFLN)

SNF = Oakland @ Washington (NBC)

MNF = Dallas @ Arizona (ESPN)

[Keith]

Interesting to flip back to the playoff loss to the Pats in January since not much has changed beyond the Texans having swapped QBs and adding Watt, and the Pats losing WR Edelman... which could all be significant changes although the Texans offense has proven thus far to be about as inept as it was with Osweiler. Gronk missed practice yesterday but was out there today.

Playoff Game thread, big thanks to Arky for the commentaries.

So stopping the Pats O is about not giving up PI penalties deep and covering the RBs out of the backfield. JJo is expected to play, but can't help but notice he is losing a step. The Texans will need Kareem to cover Brandin Cooks (gulp!) and hope JJo and the others can handle the rest. Then have rookie LB Cunningham use his speed to stick with the Pats RBs. The Pats knew to pick on McKinney in coverage. Don't put him in that situation again. Doing this should help keep it close.

Offensively, letting Watson audible and generally letting him play his game is going to be both a risk and an opportunity. Osweiler's picks in the playoff killed them, so hope Watson is both smart with the ball but plays with necessary swagger. The Texans won't win a shootout - heck, can they even score 20? - but they can get first downs and eat up time of possession to keep it close.

Belichick knows how to find a weakness (like McKinney in coverage) and how to take away your best weapon (Hopkins). So the gameplan BOB comes up with must account for this. Offensively, feed Foreman and dump passes to Lamar in the flat. Get Brax involved. Let Watson dictate. Defensively, keep one safety on Cooks and keep McKinney in the box. Hope Gronk is more of a decoy but double him in the redzone.

Oh, and 4 quarters of special teams coverage shouldn't be too much to ask, right? Pats had a kickoff return for a TD (98 yds) near the end of Q1 in the playoff... that would be a death blow if it happened again on Sunday.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by Keith

Playoff Game thread, big thanks to Arky for the commentaries.

That was pretty fun.

[barrett]

We don't win this game without scoring 21, so we don't win this game.

But seriously, we probably need half a dozen 1st downs with our QB's legs or multiple Defense/ST scores. We also absolutely positively must play with a lead and run the ball.

If we fall behind by more than 2 scores get Savage in to be hit and let Watson watch the rest.

[HPF Bob]

How pathetic for CBS to pick up the Bengals on the road for the dh game. Do they realize Cincy is 0-2 with all of nine points scored in their first two games? Aaron Rodgers normally gets 9 points by halftime.

[Arky]

Pats win the toss and defer, Texans to receive.

Irvin brings the kickoff back to about the Texan 21. Texan's ball.

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L Miller goes left side for 1.

Watson rolls out right and can't find a receiver, runs out of bounds. Loss of 2. 3rd and 12 coming up.

Low pass to B Miller goes inc. Texans will have to punt.

Amendola brings the punt back all the way to the Pat 49. Pat's ball.

13:32 left in the 1st.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Keith

The Texans won't win a shootout - heck, can they even score 20? - but they can get first downs and eat up time of possession to keep it close.

I meant to ask if the Texans could even score 20 in the first half. I guess they can.