5 Takeaways From the Patriots 27-6 Win Over Houston
Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team
5 Takeaways From the Patriots 27-6 Win Over Houston
"Really proud of our team this week, tough week, competeed hard all week on practice field. We played a solid game toight in all three fazes of the game. We got some good plays out of each group. It was good to come down here and come out with a win," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick after the game.
See the Five Takeaways Slideshow Below
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Houston Texans got a Nick Novak to cut their deficit to four, 10-6, with just under three minutes lef in the first half.
The Patriots offense got the ball back and conducted an eight play drive that resulted in Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski touchdown pass to put New England up 17-6 at the half.
New England got the ball to start the second half and would go up 20-6 after a Stephen Gostkowski field goal.
Runing back James White would add a rushing touchdown with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter to seal the 27-6 win.
Leading the Way
Quarterback Tom Brady went 22 of 30 for 226 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Meanwhile, Rob Gronkowski had four catches for 87 yards and a touchdown in his return while Danny Amendola pulled in six catches for 46 yards.
On the ground, LeGarrette Blount had 10 carries for 53 yards and Brandon Bolden had 16 carries for 51 yards.
Next up
The Patriots return to action on Sunday, December 20 when they host the Tennesse Titans at Gillette Stadium. Kick off is set for 1 p.m.
See the Five Takeaways Slideshow Below
5 Takeaways From the Patriots Win Over Houston
Special Teams
The Patriots special teams had another mistake in this game when Keshawn Martin fumbled a punt return, giving the Texans the ball back in good field position.
This time though, it did not cost them as he Patriots defense got off the field.
However, this is three weeks in a row in which the Patriots have had a major error on special teams.
Martin returned four punts for 46 yards prior to the error.
After Martin fumbled, Danny Amendola took he remainder of the punt returns. See if it stays that way.
More Injuries
Devin mcCourty, LeGarrette Blount are and Dominique Easley are among some of the bigger names that went down during this game.
McCourty would be the biggest loss out of those three injuries due to his leadership in the secondary and because he can do so many things in coverage.
Blount is scary because it is a knee injury and looking at the play, he wasn't hit in the hip. Always a scary situation when a player goes down and was not touched.
Easley has a history of injuries going back to his college career and his absence would hurt the D-line a little bit but not anything that the Patriots could not overcome.
We will have to wait and see how serious, if at all, the injuries are.
Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski returned to the field after missing last weeks game with a knee injury suffered in Denver.
In his return, Gronkowski had four catches for 86 yards and a touchdown.
Gronkowski played 42 of 69 offensive snaps, 19 in the first half and 23 in the second half.
2 Minute Drill
The last two games, New England has gotten the ball before the half with plenty of time to do something and they played super conservative and it cost them.
In this game, we saw a masterful eight play drive that resulted in a Brady to Gronkowski touchdown pass and a Gostkowski extra point to give New England a 17-6 halftime lead.
That was much more like it.
Jabaal Sheard
The entire defense was outstanding but Jabaal Sheard was a beast in this game.
Sheard recorded four tackles and two sacks for 34 yards and also had two QB hits.
The Patriots defense in total had six sacks for 57 yards and limited Houston to only 189 yards of offense, including 87 rushing yards.
By the way though, did the Texans run the wild cat enough?
