Written by Marc Sessler at NFL.com
The Road to Houston is filled with peril for the Texans.
Coming off a concise hammering of the Raiders, Bill O’Brien’s team now travels to New England to face a Patriots club that has gone one-and-done just twice in a whopping 14 playoff appearances under coach Bill Belichick.
The Texans played one of their best games of the year against Oakland, an effort led by a pair of whirlwind pass-rushers in Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus. For any shot to win, both defenders must duplicate that effort against a Patriots offensive line that is thriving under trusted assistant Dante Scarnecchia.
O’Brien’s Texans have matched up poorly against the Patriots, with New England outscoring them 54-6 over their past two matchups. That includes a 27-0 romp in Week 3 with third-string rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett at the controls for the Pats.
This time around, the nearly perfect Tom Brady is under center for an attack that ripped through all comers as the NFL’s No. 2 scoring operation since his return in Week 5. Rolling into January with the league’s top point differential (+191), the Patriots are robotically efficient and led by the greatest quarterback of our lifetime.
With shaky Brock Osweiler at the helm for Houston, the Texans would need to play the perfect game and find a way to throw Brady off his axis early and often for any chance to upset a Patriots franchise that is 15-3 at home in the playoffs under Belichick.
Barring a miracle, the end is near for the incomplete Texans. Right?
Under pressure
Brock Osweiler, Texans quarterback: If Tom Brady were to throw a pick on each of his next 35 passes, he would still have a higher passer rating than Osweiler, per NFL Research. Still, Houston’s “starting” passer finally put together a relatively clean performance against Oakland. It was encouraging to see Osweiler display chemistry with wideout DeAndre Hopkins in that game, but that won’t be so easy against New England’s No. 1 scoring defense, a surging unit that has held 11 of their past 14 opponents under 20 points. Finishing the year 27th in completion percentage, 29th in passer rating and dead-last in yards per attempt, Osweiler is doing more than trying to win an impossible playoff game: He’s fighting for his future in Houston.
To continue reading this article, click here.
