The New England Patriots put together a clunker in Houston Sunday night falling to 10-2 after a 28-22 loss to the Texans. Here are 5 observations from the loss.
The New England Patriots were simply outcoached, outplayed and outworked in Sunday night’s 28-22 loss to Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium.
Chalk one up for Bill O’Brien who finally got one against his former team. On a night where the Texans looked like the better team on both sides of the ball, the Patriots couldn’t get key stops when they needed it on defense and wasn’t helped out by the offense that continued to drown in frustration.
Tom Brady and his offensive unit did muster over 400 yards of offense, but much of that came when the game was basically already decided.
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While the defense didn’t do their job by giving up some big plays to Watson, the offensive side of the ball continues to be a weakness for the Patriots. Receivers aren’t on the same page as Brady and can’t seem to win one-on-one battles to create separation.
In all, Tom Brady and the Patriots offense continues to search for some kind of cohesion and balance as they are simply not good enough at the moment to win playoff football. As proven Sunday night, if the defense does not play lights out, the defending Super Bowl champions have a tough time beating the better teams in the NFL.
On to Kansas City, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick knows his team has some work to do heading into Week 14.
"“The Texans did a good job tonight all the way across the board in every area,” Belichick said following the game, via Patriots.com. “They were just better than we were tonight. I’m proud of the way our guys fought and competed. We’ve just go to coach better, we’ve got to play better. We’ve just got to do better than we did tonight. Just wasn’t good enough in any area, and they were the better team. I think that pretty much sums it up.”"
Here are five observations from the New England Patriots lackluster performance against the Houston Texans.
5. Looking up to Baltimore
Let’s start with the ramifications of Sunday night’s 28-22 loss to the Houston Texans.
In dropping to 10-2, the New England Patriots have slipped to the No. 2 seed in the AFC behind the Baltimore Ravens who defeated the San Francisco 49ers in what many see as a Super Bowl preview.
With how the Patriots looked against the Texans and how they were run over by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Week 9, that is certainly how things are trending, especially now with the AFC now running through Baltimore.
There is still a lot of football left and a lot of things that can happen, but next week’s showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs is very important for the New England Patriots if they hope to regain that No. 1 seed.
It’s simple, another loss will make that road more difficult and it will also bring them back to the pack with teams like the Chiefs and Texans. It will also make thing rather interesting in the AFC East with the surging Buffalo Bills staying on pace as they are now just one game behind.
Simply put, the Patriots have to figure things out on offense, or they could suddenly find themselves fighting for even that No. 2 spot.
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have certainly been here before, but are teams at the top of the AFC more primed to knock them out and keep them out?
The next few weeks will tell the story.
4. Brady needs more than Edelman
While the frustration continues to mount for Tom Brady, he did put together a pretty good night offensively.
When all was said and done on Sunday night, Brady finished the night throwing for 326 yards and three touchdowns, but most of that came during the last couple of drives that brought the team within an onside kick recovery away from having a chance to still win the game.
As good as those numbers look on paper, the first quarter interception that led to a Houston Texans touchdown and all the misconnections to New England Patriots receivers not on the same page is what stands out in this performance.
While Tom Brady knows what he has in Julian Edelman and James White, he is still trying to find chemistry with young players like Jakobi Meyers and N’Keal Harry as well as newcomer Mohamed Sanu.
Until someone else steps up and becomes a reliable threat, teams will continue to double Edelman and play man against a group of playmakers who are having trouble winning matchups.
More production from the tight end position could help, but overall, Tom Brady is still chalking it all up to execution and just staying on the same page. They do have the talent, they just need to start attacking defenses instead of allowing defenses to set the tone against them.
3. Good to see James White
The New England Patriots weren’t able to really get the running game going with Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead.
Part of the reason was because the team fell behind 21-3 and a lot of it was due to them not sticking to it long enough.
The good news, however, was the re-emergence of James White into the offensive game plan. As defenses have been focused on limiting White in the passing game, there has been a decrease in his targets the last few weeks, so it was good to see the Wisconsin product making plays with his sweet feet.
Take a look at the first of his two touchdown receptions Sunday night:
In all, James White was the leading rusher with 79 yards on 14 attempts. He also had 8 receptions, which was a positive for this offense. In gaining 98 yards in rushing, White totaled 173 yards from scrimmage.
That’s the kind of production Tom Brady and the offense is going to need from White going forward if this team is going to have success in the playoffs.
More James White please!
2. Tight ends capable of more
Well, Rob Gronkowski is not coming out of retirement to be the savior for this offense.
While the former New England Patriots tight end made that well known, there was still some hope due to the lack of production the team has been getting from the tight end position in the passing game.
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Tom Brady of course wishes he had his pal on the field, but Ben Watson and Matt LaCosse are capable of doing a little something in the passing game.
Both tight ends had catches for nice gains in Sunday night’s loss to the Houston Texans. with the receivers not creating consistent separation, Brady should’ve looked their way more and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels should design more plays going forward now that the offensive line is a bit more stable.
They don’t need a ton from Watson, LaCosse or Ryan Izzo when he is active. All they need is what Rob Gronkowski did give them during the playoffs last year. They need tight ends who can block and go out for the occasional big pass. They also need more big bodies in the red zone.
So, why not Matt LaCosse, Ben Watson and/or Ryan Izzo?
These tight ends are certainly capable of more.
1. Defense still solid
The narrative after allowing four passing touchdowns to the Houston Texans will be how the New England Patriots defense is overrated and was exposed by Deshaun Watson.
Yes, the defense gave up 28 points, but they did limit the Texans running game and Watson had just 234 yards passing, some of that was a nice 35-yard touchdown strike to Will Fuller IV.
Overall, they got some pressure on the young Texans quarterback and if not for a missed sack by John Simon that prolonged a drive that resulted in a touchdown, the Patriots would’ve had a chance to recapture momentum after falling down 7-3.
While the Texans did expose Patriots linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy in coverage, the defense overall wasn’t the reason why the New England Patriots lost this game.
Once again, it was the ineptitude of the offense in completing drives and turning the ball over giving the opposing offense a short field. With some of the players playing the game sick, the defense gets a pass in this one. They will bounce back strong against the Kansas City Chiefs.