FOXBOROUGH — Everything you need to know from the Patriots' win over the Texans at Gillette Stadium on Sunday in quickie form.
HEADLINES
Tom Terrific, part 736: He wasn’t perfect, but considering the number of times he was pounded by the Texans defense, the heat, humidity and game situation (down five, facing second-and-20 for their own 15-yard line with 2:11 and one timeout), this might have been one of Tom Brady’s finest regular-season games ever. I mean, 378 yards and five touchdowns against a Houston defense that hadn’t allowed a 300-yard passer in 31 games (postseason included) and hadn’t allowed five passing touchdowns since Aaron Rodgers had six on Oct. 14, 2012? That’s inhuman for any quarterback, let alone one that’s 40 years old.
Patriots defense is not good right now: The opener against the Chiefs might have been acceptable because it was the first game against an uncommon opponent. But to allow the Texans, who entered the game 30th in points and 32nd in total yards, to gain 417 yards and rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson to throw for 301 yards is borderline inexcusable. And, again, they allowed too many big plays (six over 20 yards).
We think Gronkowski is healthy: When Brady needed a play against the Texans, he went to Rob Gronkowski (eight catches for 89 yards), who showed zero ill effects from the groin injury he suffered last week. The Texans were all over Gronkowski but he kept popping up and doing Gronk things. Plus, he became the fastest tight end ever to 70 (by a wide margin)
https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/912006806108549120
TURNING POINT
Patriots faced a third-and-18 at their own 48-yard line with 54 seconds left. That's when Brady went back to pass, but got nailed from behind by J.J. Watt as he threw, and ended up throwing an anticipation pass to Danny Amendola who went up high and held onto it against tight coverage from safety Eddie Pleasant. A phenomenal play by both players, and it set up the game-winner on the next play.
Here’s the play:
SECOND GUESS
- After completing a pass near midfield with 13 seconds remaining, Texans coach Bill O’Brien elected not to call a timeout until there were three seconds left. O’Brien was calling for a clock play in the interim. “I screwed that up,” O’Brien said. “My mistake.”
- Earlier, O’Brien challenged a complete pass from Brady to Gronkowski near the end of the third quarter. He lost, which cost him a timeout he could have used later. Even if he won, he only gained eight yards of field position. O’Brien didn’t regret the call. “I thought that was a good challenge,” he said. “I thought his thigh was down.”
- On third-and-1 with 11:02 to go, the Patriots went no-huddle and tried to run for the first down despite the linemen being in a pass-blocking, two-point stance instead of firing off the ball with a hand on the ground in a three-point stance. Mike Gillislee was stuffed for no gain and some in the stands booed. “There’s a lot of things we can do better, need to do better,” said Bill Belichick. “We’ll work on those.”
