New England Patriots: 3 ways to avoid a Week 1 upset vs. Texans
By Ryan Feyre
Attack the perimeters on offense
Let’s be honest, if I’m the New England Patriots, I don’t mess with J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus, and Jadeveon Clowney up front. Run the ball as least as possible. Houston is projected to have the sixth best defensive line in the NFL, according to NFL.com. If Watt can return to that 20 sack guy before his own injury woes, than they could be even better.
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With that in mind, Brady should be throwing the ball 35-40 times again, like he did in that Week 3 contest. The Texans are expected to have a bottom ten secondary, and a young one at that, so any veteran edge New England may have will come in handy throughout all four quarters.
Yes, this is one of the weakest receiving corps Brady’s ever had to play with, but Rob Gronkowski will feed off of any mismatch. In the last contest, he dominated Houston with eight catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. If he gets free, it’ll be tough for anyone to cover him, especially since Gronk is so hard to bring down.
This is also a good time for someone like Hogan to break out, especially with Julian Edelman sidelined for the first four games. On top of that, whoever Kevin Johnson is covering should have a field day. The Wake Forest alum was the worst rated cornerback in the NFL and allowed a passer rating of 137 in 2017, according to Pro Football Focus.
Yeah, I think Brady and co. will be alright in this regard. As long as they don’t run the ball often. Even try to get James White in the open maybe. Either way, when Tom Brady is in a rhythm, no one can stop him.