O’Brien meets mentor Belichick when Texans host Patriots

The Patriots are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games coming off an outright loss. Houston’s notorious playing surface was where Patriots WR Wes Welker tore an ACL in 2010. The Patriots would prefer to pass (they’re first in yards), but the Texans can handle that (they’re No. 3 in yards allowed). Watt has some of the best hands in the game, and with a thick chunk of plaster on one of them it will have a negative impact no matter what the CLAW says.

The Patriots are known for attacking a team’s biggest weakness.

Watt, however, insists that he will play against the Patriots on Sunday – and even went as far as to claim that the injured hand won’t affect his ability to plow through the New England offensive line and bring down the quarterback.

In fact, the Texans are on such a hot streak defensively that they’ve failed to allow 225 passing yards or more since the first of November (when they suffocated Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans). This was after the Patriots and Eagles had been trading punches in the scoreless first quarter of the game, and the Patriots had begun to take control. New England can not afford to lose another game.

DeAndre Hopkins catches a touchdown pass against Darrelle Revis.

He’s caught 86 passes for 1169 yards and 10 touchdowns this season and has outstanding speed, catch radius and hands.

An offense led by someone Clowney has seen play a bunch.

The defense has been fairly steady this season.

That last one, against Darrelle Revis, was particularly eye-opening, as it really announced to the world that there’s no one cornerback who can cover Hopkins.

The Patriots play the Tennessee Titans next week. The Patriots watched virtually their whole depth chart at cornerback walk in the offseason (Revis, Browner), and made a decision to elevate Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler, who’s been pretty good.

Will There Be Any Handoffs?

That time has proved very valuable for Hoyer and it’s carried into how he operates now as the Texans’ starting quarterback. That’s the fourth-lowest mark in the NFL. The OVER is 6-0 in the last six games between the Patriots and the Texans. “Who knows, I might feel different on Sunday, but I have never been in this situation”. Over that same span it also kept its opponent to less than 270 yards of offense in four straight contests. Yeah, losing two games in a row could be a sign for concern, except the first came on the road, without their best receiver, against the best defense in the National Football League, where they lost after some ticky-tacky calls in overtime.

Brian Hoyer is actually been playing well this year when given the chance. It will be Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State, and Oklahoma and the semi final games will be played on New Year’s Eve with the final game being played a week later.

Gronk? Edelman? No Way … It was doubly shocking to see Julian Edelman on the practice field on Friday.

But even that doesn’t necessarily mean the play will be successful these days. Last time that happened (Denver, two seasons ago), it was ugly. Now they look to get back on the winning track against a resurgent Houston team on Sunday Night Football. New England has had plenty of success against the relatively young Houston franchise. Perhaps the two sides are merely trying to present a united front, or perhaps there’s a bit of a behind-the-scenes struggle taking place once again.

With Gronkowski and Edelman out of the lineup, Danny Amendola has emerged as the Patriots’ go-to receiver. Hopkins has emerged as one of the best wide receivers in the game, especially after that display he put on against Revis and the New York Jets. He’s already been ruled out.

And unlike the Patriots, the Texans are mostly healthy heading into the game.