Warren1985

Yeah I remember watching the game thinking Brady must have seen something on tape because he kept going deep for a while and then Stallworth connected and scored a TD...Must be a weakness Brady saw on tape

patfanken

I'm not exactly what you mean here, Fencer. Are you talking about match up on the OL vs Watt, or are you talking about the match ups on AJohnson, and Foster. In this case I'll assume the latter, and you can correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure that BB will match up Talib (on Johnson) and Chung (on Foster) every play. In the past BB hasn't flopped his CB's much, but in the past we haven't played as much man coverages as we are now.

My thinking is that Arrington on Andre Johnson is a mismatch of epic proportions. Johnson on Dennard is a better match up due to Dennards physical play, but the height differential is more than scary. Talib is a perfect physical match up for Johnson, but I don't think he can stop him alone. Johnson is just too good. That's why I see him getting help over the top from Gregory so he can be even more aggressive underneath. If BB ascribes to his philosophy of making a concerted effort to shut down ONE aspect of a team's arsenal. Johnson would be the one on any passing downs

My feelings are the same with Chung and Foster, they are more of a hunch than the Johnson match up. I would not be happy to see Foster out in space against any LB. You should know that initially I had Mayo in that match up. But after watching Foster break literally every ankle in the Cinci LB corp when he got them in space, I opted for a DB to do the job, and Chung was the best suited for the job. Plus, as I mentioned in the original post, this assignment would limit the number of plays Chung would need to be covering receivers deep....which is an added plus.

In the end we shall see. I have no links to BB's mind, but its what I'd do.

Rob0729

I kinda remember that. And if this is the case, you can argue that the Texans did little to stop the Pats on those drives and it was poor execution on the plays or the Pats just not executing the best offense to keep drives alive to test the kill shot.

So again, you can argue just as easily that if the Pats executed better on those drives that it could have been a bigger blow out as you can argue that if the Texans executed better the game would have been closer.

MassPats38

After the 2010 playoff game for the Pats, I will never say never in terms of rematches against teams the Pats beat during the season. I would be surprised if that game is not the theme of preparation this week for the Texans (and the Pats). The Texans are different in many ways than the Jets, and the injury to Brian Cushing appeared to change the team's fortunes radically after that week 5 game despite the later wins. After watching most of the Texans game yesterday, it still looks like it is sleepwalking as neither it nor the Bengals really looked like the win was important. My concern, given the fact the Texans have a good amount of talent on both sides of the ball, is that it finds a way to wake up for this game.

The losses to the Cardinals and Seahawks illustrate how bad the Pats can play when it doesn't execute, and that version of the Pats can easily lose. The deficit to the Niners recently was no different, as the bad version of the Pats was on the field for almost 3 quarters. The Texans win shows how scary the Pats can be when the team does execute. I believe the Pats can beat any team in the NFL, anywhere, when it plays to its capabilities. When it does not play to that level, anything can happen.

patfanken

That's an interesting insight. I never thought of it that way. I keep thinking the Stallworth play had a lot of Hail Mary aspects to it. IIRC, he wasn't badly covered and needed to make a one handed catch to complete the play. Its not like he was wide open and the pass was perfect, like the Lloyd TD.

Plus Stallworth won't be walking through that door on Sunday. HIS moment of glory has come and gone. If the Pats want to go deep on the Texans this week, it will have to be on a Lloyd double move or play action.

convertedpatsfan

I think the first game is lulling us into a false sense of security here. The final score really doesn't indicate some of the breaks we got along the way that changed the course of the game early on.

On the first Pats drive, Ridley's fumble near the goal line was fortunately recovered by us.

On the second Texans drive, they drove the ball from their own 20 to our 21 before McCourty made a big INT in the end-zone.

On the third Pats drive, it was extended by a pretty sketchy pass interference call.

The Texans aren't exactly an explosive offense, and playing from behind is more difficult for them. But we were pretty fortunate to get ahead so quickly. In a closer game, that offense will look a lot different.

On defense, the Texans got caught flat-footed to start the game, as we scored on our first 3 drives, but they settled down and forced 3-and-outs on 3 of 11 drives when Brady was in the game, 27%. And after the initial barrage of scoring, they actually forced 3-and-outs 3 of 8 drives, almost half the time. Small sample size, but for some perspective, the Pats offense led the league in fewest 3-and-outs this season (12%). The 27% would rank 29th in the league, just barely ahead of Oakland. While the high score hides a lot of it, this Texans defense is able to shut us down quickly at times.

I like our chances in this game, especially if weather is a factor, but I don't expect anywhere close to the blow-out that the first game was. Last time, Houston was treating it like the biggest game in franchise history and they were taught a few lessons about being a contender; I fully expect they have learned their lessons, and are eager to show it.

Rob0729

Funny, I think it was bigger blowout than the score indicated.

The Pats all year has been a bend don't break offense and the Texans over the last 6 or so games have been a horrible red zone offense (including yesterday). So the McCourty INT was it a lucky break or par for the course for this defense and that offense.

I think people are over analyzing the first match up now. The Pats clearly outclassed the Texans at every aspect of the game. Yes, the Pats capitalized on some Texans' mistakes, but isn't that the signature of a Belichick run Patriots' team and what the Pats have been doing all year? In fact, isn't that the signature of any top team?

As for the 3 and outs, it was explained in other posts how McDaniels must have saw something and killed some drives by trying to force it deep which ended up paying off on the Stallworth TD. So did the Texans really stop the Pats or did the Pats stop the Pats by going away from what was working? Also, with a 21-0 lead in the first half is the offense slowing down a reflection of the opposing defense stopping the offense or the offense taking the pedal off the gas a little bit. The Pats did score another 21 points after they struggled a bit on offense.

zipster9

Kubiak will not deviate from their offsensive scheme: A big dose of Foster, with play-action Schaub.

If Patriots stuff Foster, like their 1st matchup, it's over. Look at the Texan losses, Foster gets neutralize, and the game falls on Schaub...

Rob0729

Wow! What a difference a month makes. The week after the Pats beat the Texans, the general sentiment on this board is that the Pats destroyed the Texans and it was proof the Pats are the best team in the league.

Now there is a strong sentiment that the Pats were lucky against Texans and the Texans shot themselves in the foot and if the the Texans executed better, they might have won.

I guess it is just nerves because I saw a lot of "I don't want to see the Ravens next week" this week even though the Ravens suck right now, but people wanted turn them into a "team that always plays the Pats tough" and Harbaugh will come up with something to confuse the Pats.

TheBostonStraggler

Yes it was only 13 (as I typed later in my post) not 14.... my error but doesn't change that it is a lofty win total. It seems whatever the Texans do has a rather obvious and positive result most of the time (results that most teams wish they could replicate).

The Texans did not execute well and it was reflected in the score. If they would have executed better would they have won? No and I said about as much....but better execution could have made it competitive. For example, it was 21 to 0 at half time. The Patriots had 6 meaningful first half possessions. Three 3 and outs, one Patriot TD that was greatly aided by a PI call on a 3rd and 10 (that was poor execution by Texans), one TD by the Patriots where AH split out wide and, literally, had no Texan go over and line up to cover him (again, poor Texan execution).
The Texans offense had 5 meaningful possessions in the first half: a drive to the Patriot 21 end on a 2nd and 8 with a very poorly executed pass plus two drives end around the Patriot 35, both on 4th and 5 turnovers on downs.
If the Texans don't commit PI, don't throw an absurd Int and can complete just 1 of 2 passes for a measly 5 yards? Halftime likely goes from 21-0 to 14-6. That isn't rosy for the Texans but it remains a one score, competitive game at halftime.
Next Patriots TD approaching mid 3rd quarter (and the one that arguably puts the game on ice and sees the Texans start to pack it in) is a 65 yard TD to Stallworth. When you give up a 65 yard TD there is likely some level of poor execution on the defense side (see the Patriots v 9ers game for an example of that).

Again, would the Texans have won if they executed? It still is not likely but a one score game at halftime is a vastly different game than 21 to 0 at halftime. But remember this is Foxboro in December where the odds say there is little chance anyone wins. Where every gameplan fails at a, what is it, 95% clip?
But if you think a 13 win team needs to do it differently to win versus doing what has got them 13 wins (except executing it well)? I guess we should hope they don't change.....should make the chances of a Patriot victory very high....

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