Pats Will Face Texans

The seconds are now ticking off the clock with Houston ahead of Cincinnati 19-13. The big story of the game was most certainly Arian Foster, who carried the ball 30 times for 128 yards and a TD. The other story was Andy Dalton going 14/30 for 127 yards and 1 INT. Houston's defense looked pretty good, but the impact plays were more self-inflicted than good defense. Dalton just wasn't accurate enough to take advantage of the Texans DBs.

Likewise, I have to disagree with Cincinnati's gameplan. Green-Ellis had some good success, with 59 yards on 10 carries. Wait! Only 10 carries? If you are going to bank on your QB 30 times, then he's gotta do more than 127 yards. Also, if you have a legitimate #1 WR, like AJ Green, he can't get shut out in the 1st half. Green only managed 5 catches on 11 targets.

The Patriots offense should provide an entirely new challenge for The Texans, and I am sure that Gary Kubiak's club remembers that. The Bengals are not a good 3rd down team (34%), and that was their big problem in this game. Also, Cincinnati doesn't have the ability to speed up the game like The Patriots do. Houston struggled to match up with Brady's arsenal, and quite simply, Andy Dalton just doesn't compare. Next Sunday's contest will be an entirely different affair, and I couldn't be more excited.

We can forget about any "late season slump" surrounding The Texans. They will come to Foxboro with all the momentum of a playoff victory. As Bill Belichick always says, this a new season. It's a one game season, so there is no margin for error. We've got to do everything we did well last time, and more. Last time we did a great job on JJ Watt, and once again that will be a top priority. Moreoever, we played extremely disciplined against the zone-running attack, and as we saw in this Bengals game, Foster is the life-blood of Houston's offense. Also, the importance of starting fast and finishing strong cannot be underestimated.

Overall, I think the matchup is favorable for The Patriots, but I don't know if we can replicate the success of our earlier meeting. Houston is a very complete team, and we dismantled them in an emotional game not so long ago. Let's just not assume we will do the same thing this time. This is a clean slate, and the winner will be the team that executes on the field on Sunday. Let's not forget how the 2010 season ended. We need to play our best game of the season and I mean that.