Texans look for improvement ahead of rematch with Patriots

Most of the early money around town has been on the Patriots, including at CG Technology, where sports book director Jason Simbal said he opened the betting by taking $19,000 in wagers on New England and only $196 on Houston. Tom Brady should win the MVP (although he probably won’t) and the offense is now clicking on all cylinders. Throw haymakers from the outset by opening up the offense and trusting Brock Osweiler to make some plays and avoid turnovers. Most importantly, he has been more mobile in the pocket.

It’s the best time of the year folks! We’re talking about the New England Patriots.

The Patriots have a 18-4 playoff record when playing at Gillette, which is where they’ll play Saturday.

“We’ve still got 48 hours to go so I think everyone is still kind of in preparation mode; just have to try to bring everything together at this point”, Brady said. I’m so happy that he’s been able to play this type of season and just prove so many people wrong. I see this being a fairly easy win for New England. The Texans rushed the ball 44 times vs. In my opinion, the Patriots are better than the Texans in every facet of the game.

But, they beat the Raiders 27-14.

The Texans defense is beastly, but can they rise to true 2016 Broncos-level Beast Mode against the Patriots? The lights are just too bright for the Texans, which could lead to this game being over by the half. But the Patriots turned the ball over only 11 times all season.

The only reason I thought the Texans (10-7) would win last week against visiting Oakland was because Houston was at home and the Raiders were starting fourth-round rookie Connor Cook at quarterback – the first time in league history a QB made his first NFL start in a playoff game. This is probably why the Texans go to New England a 15-point underdog.

The Patriots outscored opponents 200-87 over their season-ending seven-game win streak.

Bill Belichick’s idea of a party boat differs a bit from that of Odell Beckham Jr., who was shown in a shirtless photo with his Giants teammates living it up on a yacht in Miami before their loss to the Green Bay Packers. Along with a solid performance by the league’s #1 defense in yards allowed, the Texan offense began to click with Brock Osweiler, Lamar Miller, and DeAndre Hopkins all getting into the endzone.

In New England’s first nine games its defense allowed four opponents to score 20 or more points, including a season-high 30 given up in a 31-24 home loss to Seattle on November 13. “Put us in great field position to score a touchdown”.

The Texans have never won in Foxboro and the Patriots want to make sure it stays that way on Saturday night. The question of this game is not if the Patriots will win, but how much they will win by.

According the ESPN’s Football Power Index the New England Patriots have a 88.8% chance of winning and advancing to the AFC Championship.

“You know if you watch his games recently, he’s able to, you know get up in the middle of the pocket and move around well“, Chris Long said.

Osweiler looked like a flash of why Houston paid him that insane amount last week. But as impressive as it was, what it did for the team was even better.

Tom Brady is 5-1 against the Texans in his career. Tom Brady was one of three players removed from the team’s injury report on Thursday. This season won’t be a third.

Even without injured J.J. Watt, the Houston Texans’ strength is their defense. If the NFL Network is part of your cable package, you can also live stream the game through the NFL app on XBox, Apple TV, or Roku device on your TV.