Keys To Victory - Divisional Round vs Houston

In the playoffs certain aspects of the game just loom larger than the rest. Obviously ball security and 3rd down conversions will be huge, but what else could make or break the game? What are the keys to victory?

1. The Health & Effectiveness of Gronk, Talib, and Dennard- Tom Brady has made deep playoff runs with less talent around him, and this year The Pats are unusually healthy across the board. Belichick has managed injuries cautiously the entire year, and it has paid off for the team. Nevertheless, the injuries to monitor surround 2 impact players. Gronk is a beast, but he needs to use both arms to be the blocker that he needs to be this January. His blocking in the run game is probably what we miss most. Likewise, Aqib Talib has been painfully nursing a hip injury. Talib has been a steadying force in the defensive backfield along with Dennard, who is also nursing some leg injuries. Hopefully the bye week did its magic.

2. The First 6:00 Minutes- Sometimes a bye week can lead to a sluggish start. I don't think that will be the case this time around, but just ask The Fighting Irish how important the first few minutes of a game are. No, you can't win a game with only 6 minutes of good football, but we need to neutralize any momentum the Texans have from their victory last week. They think they can beat us (Wade Phillips said so), therefore we've got to punch them in the mouth from the first whistle. Let's remind them of last game. The psychological ripples will cause them to crumble, but also Matt Schaub doesn't have the arsenal to play from behind.

3. Offensive Line Execution- It all starts up front. Truly, the only way to beat Tom Brady is to pressure him. He has a reputation for having happy feet since his knee injury, but all QBs get less accurate with pressure. Brady has very few flaws, so this one is just magnified every time Brady meets with a big game. The Texans have a fearsome defensive line, despite their ineffectiveness early in December at Gillette. This game will be won in the trenches, with good communication and solid 1-on-1 blocking. Hopefully Gronk can use two arms to block, because his edge setting will really benefit the run game. Brady needs time to throw, and Ridley needs lanes to attack. Its a simple as containing the Defensive Player of The Year, JJ Watt.

4. Defensive Disguise- I've spent a lot of time breaking down defensive game tape, and quite a few trends are popping out. The Patriots are playing a lot more man coverage since Talib's first game, but even throughout his injury, man coverage was the most popular defensive call. The Patriots have enough faith in the defensive backs to mix up fronts and coverages at the LB-level. Likewise, the versatility of the players in the front seven gives Belichick lots of wrinkles in some very simple schemes. Schaub has to worry about where the pressure is coming from, and he needs to check to see if an defensive linemen drop into coverage. He can be fooled, and I can't wait to see how Belichick and Patricia try to do it.

5. Containing/Eliminating Andre Johnson- Last game it was pretty obvious that we have the formula to limit Arian Foster. The defense may not have shut him down the way they did to Chris Johnson is week 1, but we've proved that we can stop the run without too much safety help. We still have to prove that again, but we also need to watch out for a different game plan. Andre Johnson is a pretty quiet guy, but he has had some loud statistics over the course of his career. This dude can take over a game. I think Houston will be hard pressed to keep up with our scoring, but a few plays from Johnson could put them over the top. I say double-team him the whole game. Without a deep passing game off play-action, The Texans are cooked. If they are going to complete some passes, make Lestar Jean and Owen Daniels beat us, not Foster and Johnson.