To the Houston Texans:

[PatsFanSince74]

Yes, as long as they are there, I hope they keep the Colts from winning that division.

Wait....longer....I want the deflategate liars in Indy, and their addled owner, to never see another playoff game, ever!

And, even that would be too soon!

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Anybody catch this comment in the lockerroom celebration vid?

"It was tough, man. They did a good job." -- Tom Brady to Robert Kraft, on the Texans' defense.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

As much trouble as Houston's D was, very few teams have the personnel to execute this kind of gameplan. In fact, there may be no other teams left to face that can pose the same kind of threat to our offenses (Pittsburgh may come close...we'll have to wait and see)

A few solid observations from the Globe:

• The Patriots’ inconsistent performance on Saturday was just as much a result of the Texans’ scheme as it was the dominance of Houston’s individual players. The biggest wrinkle the Texans showed was using their outside pass rushers on the inside. Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus moved all over the formation, often lining up in a 2-point stance, but their biggest damage came when both were lined up across from interior offensive linemen.

• By lining the two players next to each other, the Texans were able to get a 1-on-1 matchup for Mercilus on center David Andrews, and Mercilus beat him badly for two sacks with his power and speed. Overall, the Patriots’ interior offensive line of Andrews, Joe Thuney and Shaq Mason combined to allow four pressures, two hits, two sacks, and a run stuff.

• Brady faced legitimate pressure on 15 of his 40 drop-backs – eight pressures, five hits and two sacks. Mercilus had quite a day, finishing with two sacks (both against Andrews), 2.5 hits, a pressure, and a run stuff. Clowney was everywhere, as well, finishing with two hits and two pressures.

• The Texans made the Patriots one-dimensional by stacking the box with an extra defender for much of the game, taking away the run game. Of the Patriots’ 15 third-down attempts, nine were 6 yards or more. The Patriots only converted 3 of 9.

• The Texans also made life tough on Brady by dropping eight and even nine defenders off into coverage. Against a three-man rush, Brady was just 1 for 7 for 7 yards (plus a 30-yard pass interference penalty) and was sacked twice by Mercilus. The Patriots went 0 for 2 on third-down conversions when the Texans dropped eight into coverage. When the Patriots got down to the goal line, the Texans only rushed two and dropped nine, blanketing the receivers and forcing Brady to scramble short of the goal line.

• Attacking the interior and forcing Brady to hold onto the football got Brady flustered. He threw too far in front of Michael Floyd on one interception, threw behind a wide-open Julian Edelman to miss an easy third-down conversion, and never saw Bernardrick McKinney scanning the middle of the field, leading to a second interception. For long stretches of the game, Brady’s best weapon was the chuck-and-duck pass, with Edelman and Chris Hogan answering his prayers with miracle catches.