New England should be in complete man coverage most of the game sans McCourty as a deep safety while they should blitz early and often. Aquib Talib did a really good job on AJ before he got injured in the game, and Schaub is horrid at getting the ball to other receivers once he no longer has the running game and play action keeping the defense off balance. The run D has been great this year when the D has been allowed to play aggressively, and the goal should be forcing Houston to abandon the run by halftime.
Matt Patricia has gotten a lot better as the season has come along at mixing plays up and being more aggressive, but I could see the playoffs scaring him into being conservative so he comes out with the extremely vanilla zone so Houston is only facing 3-4 man rushes and is getting easy 10-15 yard plays with underneath routes.
One thing about last game that Texans fans didn't realize. Garrett Graham, the backup TE to Owen Daniels, is really important as he is a pretty good blocker and can be dangerous in the passing game. But even with players wide open, Schaub is still really inaccurate when playaction is working because Andre always has to come back to the ball.
I forgot about McCourty
Also, Schaub is almost always looking for the big play instead of just taking what the defense is giving.
I know a lot of people like bashing Schaub like he's Bonner but it's not entirely his fault for how ty the Texan's O has looked. Some of the blame should be placed on Kubiak's play calling and Rick Smith for not keeping several offensive players and not getting a legit number 2 receiver.
I beg to differ. I think Schaub is a reflection of his coach's ultra conservative mentality. What is worse they're very predictable. Just once I would like to see Schaub throw deep, get hit, shake it off, and do it again.
Please explain. Thanks.
Everything points to a Texans loss and I wonder whether they have the intestinal for ude to go up and really compete. I don't think they can get past the Pats. But I'm going to go with the old "be careful what you ask for (or pray for)" approach and say they will pull it off. Apparently Arian Foster put part of Dan Shaunessy's article as his Twitter avatar. Here's the article:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/20...tIL/story.html
They just need to play with the at ude of "we can beat them if we just play our game". Last time they had zero confidence and went there with the at ude of "hope we can make this a game" which they didn't even do.
This is why I'm hoping Talib is near 100%. With him in the backfield, we dialed up more blitzes and were able to effectively pressure opponents. Without him, we just played boring prevent that allowed opponents to march all day on us until we hopefully got a turnover.
Shaughnessy is an idiot, and is hated by most Bostonians.
Heavy dose of Foster and hope for the best.
Test the Patriots secondary.. even though a shootout with brady is dumb, it all falls back on Foster. Hopefully a deep bomb to johnson can ensue this game?
All indications are that the patriots will win this game.
They effectively pass protected for Brady last meeting. JJ Watt is a 1 man show, no pass rushers to compliment him.
Texans defense has been blitz happy all year and it doesn't work against Brady, Brady shredded them last time when they rushed 5+. Texans defense showed major regression in the 2nd half of the season.
Patriots defense is dog , no matter how anyone tries to spin it... but I don't think the texans can keep up on the scoreboard with the Patriots.
Pats -3 / Broncos -3 is such a tempting teaser... but sometimes when something seems so obvious it's because you're wrong.
btw I dunno what the weather is looking like for the game but it's been proven dome/warm weather teams struggle in cold environments..
Shaunessy is a total moron for writing that article and not because it'll "motivate" the texans. Saying the texans will be a bye week as if theyre a historically bad divisional round opponent is simply wrong. Last year was the year New England got two bye weeks in a row against an 8-8 Denver team starting tebow at qb. There's no way Houston is more of a bye week than they were. Just bad journalism tbh
Actually, having watched the Texans all year long, the Texans didn't blitz enough imo. They relied a lot on their front four to generate pressure. The ILB core has been decimated by injuries (James Bradie sucks) and the secondary hasn't faired much better, although they have gotten most of the guys back.
I think for a guy like Brady who has seen it all your best bet is to get pressure from your front four. Also, no one has mentioned the weather. I think this will be huge for or against the Texans.
Looks like Garrett Graham has another concussion. fml.
What team (Brady era) has a better playoff record in the playoffs than the Pats?
He had a light practice yesterday. I haven't heard anything but I'm guessing he'll be good to go on Sunday.
Did Houston performed better vs Cincy ? Didnt watch this game. And Houston looked terrible last 2 games regular season.
Plus Brady will have all his weapon healthy and ready to go.
NE @ DEN would be of a game.
VS the Bengals the running game looked great but the passing not so much. The defense overall played well but the Bengals' offensive inep ude had a lot to do with it. Finally, the kicking game was awesome!
He probably wants you to explain why NE's home record in December means ing about a NE home game in January.
Looks like everyone is healthy(except one very important ILB, of course).
Since their 3 superbowls, the Patriots are 6-6 in the playoffs. People who aren't living in the past know the Patriots have had several bed ting performances since the superbowl years.
I wouldn't say bed ting, other than the obvious Ravens loss. They were a few plays away from being 5-0 in SB's. When I think of bed ting, I picture a team getting wiped out.
That said, if the Pats lose this game to the Texans, Pats fans will just have to readjust and be happy for their 3 championships.
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