Texans Outcoached And Outplayed By Big Brother Patriots

The title says everything you need to know about this game. Yet somehow, some fans are shocked by the result.

Many had blind optimism that the Texans can come out at home, on national television, and hand the Patriots their third straight loss. But anyone that knows New England and Bill Beechick knew that that would be an extremely tough task, especially considering the circumstances to both team’s star players.

Rob Gronkowski wasn’t supposed to play, at least as of a week ago. But he showed up on the team plane and showed up on the field.

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The Texans actually did a pretty good job defending him. Whitney Mercilus was with him step-for-step before slipping in coverage. Had he not slipped, he would have easily come away with an interception or at the very least a pass-deflection.

On Gronkowski’s one-yard touchdown, it was someone’s brilliant decision to put Quintin Demps on the tight end. Granted, Gronk likely scores that TD against 95 percent of the league, but at least give yourself a chance and put someone close to his size on him. Whatever, that didn’t cost the Texans the game.

What did cost the Texans the game is exactly what has cost them all season long. Brian Hoyer wasn’t good and missed his receivers on several occasions. When Hoyer was close, his receivers dropped the ball. Nate Washington has consistently beat the defense over the top, but Hoyer has underthrown him on every occasion. Washington did come up with one of them, but his drops, including another deep ball, have killed the offense.

The offense in general is extremely vanilla and nothing works for them when teams take away DeAndre Hopkins. You could tell Hopkins was frustrated all game long. He wasn’t looked at much of the game until it was too late. George Godsey also continues to call for some wildcat which has worked in just one game this season. None of this is particularly surprising if you realize they have had issues on offense all season long.

J.J. Watt wasn’t much of a factor last night and it’s fair to assume he will struggle the rest of the season. His left hand is in a hard cast and it’s extremely tough to engage lineman like that. It’s hard enough to beat double and triple teams, but to do it with just one hand is darn near impossible. It will be up to his teammates to help out with the pass rush.

And one teammate did in fact step up. Jadeveon Clowney played his best game of his career, spending time in the Patriots backfield much of the second half and even got to Tom Brady for two sacks. Still, besides for a Whitney Mercilus sweet spin move for a sack, the pass-rush was ineffective much of the game. And that area was something the Texans were supposed to have an advantage coming into this game against a battered Patriots offensive line.

Quick Recap: Texans Outcoached And Outplayed By Big Brother Patriots

By Yoni Pollak | Dec 14, 2015

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