Patriots Clinch Playoff Spot With 27-6 Win Over Texans

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The New England Patriots face the Houston Texans in a big AFC matchup Sunday night.

But will this be a December to remember for the Patriots? New England has not lost three straight games since 2002.

Check out how the ESPN First Take analysts see the Patriots-Texans game in the video below.

In fact, the Patriots have gone 212 games without enduring a three-game losing steak.

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has had a major impact in his return to action.

After that first year O’Brien was promoted to wide receivers coach, and coached quarterbacks in 2009-10 before becoming New England’s offensive coordinator in 2011.

New England is 10-2 SU and 5-4-3 ATS. This game will be the regular season finale at Gillette Stadium as the preparations begin for the 2016 Winter Classic.

New England controlled the game throughout, winning, 27-6, allowing them to wrest control of the No. 1 seed in the AFC (for the time being).

But for a Patriots team but has employed the next-man-up mindset so well to this point, they have weaknesses that can be exposed when not at full strength, as evidenced by their losses to the Broncos and Eagles.

Meanwhile, the Houston Texans (6-6) are also in the place of controlling their destiny to win their division after the Colts lost to Jacksonville.

His post game press conference lasted only two minutes.

I think all our quality of life sucks when you lose games. It should be important. That’s how you can be smart about it. Everything just checked out well. He made some plays, including breaking up the fourth-down pass, and showed some exuberance after making them. And we realize we’re playing for a lot. Whoever wins will most likely get bounced from the playoffs in the first round, and if not then, definitely by divisional weekend.

“Gotta coach ’em better, gotta get ’em to play better.”

The cushion was comfortable thanks to the New England defense, which harassed Hoyer relentlessly as the Patriots snapped a brief two-game skid.

“It poses some problems, but it wasn’t that bad”, Watt said. The defensive end is enjoying a productive season, leading the entire National Football League with 13.5 sacks a game.

Hoyer has passed for 2,202 yards and 18 TDs. “Yeah, it’s good to have every player we get back”.

Tight end Scott Chandler, who also is listed as questionable, will also play against the Texans, sources told ESPN. Brady, on the other hand: 22 of 30, 226 yards, two touchdowns and a 71.0 QBR. Last week Brady had his first multi-INT game of the season, as he was without his top two targets TE Rob Gronkowski and WR Julian Edelman.