Patriots host underdog Texans
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The Houston Texans face an enormous challenge against the New England Patriots tonight.
The Texans are 1-7 against the Patriots. They are winless in New England all time, including a shutout loss earlier this season when Tom Brady was out because of a suspension.
The Patriots enter the game as 15 1/2point favourites over the visiting Texans — just the sixth time since 1966 that a team has been favoured by at least 15 points in a playoff game.
In the five previous occasions, only one underdog — the New York Jets in Joe Namath’s Super Bowl guarantee — won the game.
New England says it isn’t taking anything for granted in the divisional-round matchup against the NFL’s top-ranked defence.
But how does Houston, which lost 27-0 in Week 3 to a Patriots team without Brady, go about beating a team that is one of the biggest favourites in playoff history?
“The first thing that jumps out, you have to protect the ball,” said Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler. “If you are going to beat the Patriots, especially in Foxborough, you can’t have turnovers.
“If you have turnovers, you are giving Tom additional chances to score points . . . and that’s never going to be good for your football team.”
That will be easier said than done against a Patriots defence that has been creating turnovers at a high rate during its seven-game win streak.
New England’s defence went three straight weeks in the middle of the season without forcing a turnover, but had 14 of its 23 total takeaways over its final six games.
The Texans turned it over three times in the first meeting. Two of the turnovers — fumbles on kickoffs — led to 14 points.
But big favourite or not, Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower said he isn’t affected by outside distractions.
“You all don’t have anything to do with the game so what you all think doesn’t really matter,” Hightower said. “I mean you all aren’t in between the lines. So, no I’m not really — blocking out the noise is part of that.”
Here are some other things to watch for tonight:
MILLER TIME: Houston RB Lamar Miller returned against the Raiders after missing two weeks with an ankle injury. He finished with 73 yards and a touchdown, but was unhappy with his performance after averaging just 2.4 yards a carry after averaging 4 per run in the regular season.
“This past game . . . I was kind of rusty for not playing the last two weeks,” he said. “I’m just trying to get comfortable with everything. This week, I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Miller is in his first season with the Texans after spending his first four with the Dolphins. He has been a rare bright spot on a Houston offence that has struggled to move the ball and finished the regular season ranked 10th with 1,073 yards rushing.
BLOUNT’S HEALTH: Patriots RB LeGarrette Blount has taken a lot of pressure off Brady this season, rushing for a New England single-season record 18 touchdowns and career-high 1,161 yards. But he may not be at 100 per cent after missing two straight days of practice with an illness.
AMENDOLA RETURNS: Brady’s receiving group is as healthy as it’s been in a long time thanks to the return of Danny Amendola to full participation in practice this week. Amendola sat out the final four regular-season games after suffering an ankle injury on Dec. 4.
He said he’s had no setbacks since his return.
“The playoffs is what you play for,” Amendola said. “It’s why everybody’s here. It’s what we’ve been waiting on all year. And we’re ready to go.”