Texans at Patriots: Game preview, odds, and more
By Matt Kerns
On Thursday, both the Houston Texans and the New England Patriots will try and remain winless on a national stage.
The biggest storyline coming into this game is who will be who will start at quarterback for the Patriots. With Jimmy Garoppolo down, and Tom Brady still serving a four-game suspension, it appears that Jacoby Brissett, a rookie out of NC State, will get the call for the Patriots on Thursday. If this is the case, Brissett will be making his first start in the NFL in just his third game.
Obviously, the Patriots can’t be counted out any in any game as long as they have Bill Belichick as their head coach. But Houston’s defense will give this offense fits.
It all starts up front for Houston, where they have two elite ends in their 3-4 scheme in Jadaveon Clowney and J.J. Watt. We all know about the freak athleticism and brute strength that Watt brings to this football team, but now with a healthy Clowney, it makes things much more difficult for opposing offenses. Both players can move up and down the line in different techniques pending the circumstance.
When an offense has to focus on taking out one of the two in between Clowney and Watt, it allows other players on the defensive front to get pressure on the quarterback.
On this play, outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus beats the right tackle Bobby Massie off the line of scrimmage. It’s a favorable matchup for the Texans as Massie is in hot water as soon as the ball is snapped. There’s no way Massie can slow down Mercilus.
No doubt, New England’s offensive line will have to be even better on Thursday with a rookie likely at quarterback. In two games, New England has already allowed four sacks and eight QB hits. Houston’s defense will do all they can to make it extremely difficult for Brissett in his first NFL start.
With Jimmy Garoppolo at the helm, they would have been able to at least neutralize blitzes and pressure as he’s been so good against the blitz. But you can bet the Texans will throw all sorts of disguised stunts and blitzes to give Brissett and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels fits.
Two games into the season, have given up nearly five yards per carry to opposing running backs. Last week against Miami, running back LeGarrette Blount stepped up big in the run game to solidify a Pats win. Another performance like his 129 yards on 29 carries will be needed come Thursday in order to get out with a W. He’s a rock now for this offense with the quarterback position somewhat in the air for the next two games.
Date: Thursday, September 22
Start Time: 5:25 p.m. ET
Location: Foxborough, MA
Venue: Gillette Stadium
TV: CBS/NFL Network
Live Stream: Twitter/NFL Network stream
Betting Odds
Believe it or not, Houston is favored by 2.5 points in this one. A large part because of the question mark at quarterback for the Patriots. The total over/under is set at 41.
Prediction
Well, I thought I had my mind set on the Texans until I saw New England is actually an underdog. Rarely are they ever an underdog, but they were in Week 1 also and look what happened then. I’ll still role with Houston because of all the frustration they can stir up on New England’s offensive line but I wouldn’t be shocked to the little bit if New England ended up winning.