PATRIOTS ARE WHAT TEXANS NEED AS A MEASURING STICK.

Patriots represent the kind of challenge the Texans must overcome in order to improve and become a contender

Every week provides its own set of challenges for the Texans.

As they continue to work out kinks in their offense, battle through injuries and replace players on the depth chart, the Texans have a long list each week of obstacles to get through. On Sunday, the list gets longer. And more difficult. • Stop Tom Brady. • Outcoach Bill Belichick. • Beat the Super Bowl champions.

To call this week’s game in Foxborough a tough one is laughable. It’s troublesome. Both teams enter the game 1-1. The Texans lost to Jacksonville in a disaster of an outing to start the season. After making a switch to a new starting quarterback, rookie Deshaun Watson, they looked slightly better last week against Cincinnati and squeaked past the Bengals 13-9.

The Texans need to make a big jump this week.

Even with a mountain of improvement, they might not beat the Patriots, though.

They are 0-5 in Foxborough, losing by an average of 24 points. The Texans have lost the last six meetings, including two last season — in Week 3 and in the playoffs.

They did pick up a win against the Patriots last month. During preseason. That doesn’t count for much.

To be fair, few teams will fare well against the Patriots. Brady & Co. are proven winners.

After a surprise of a loss in Week 1 to the Chiefs, New England bounced back in a big way against the Saints last week.

Bill O’Brien knows better than most what the Texans are up against this weekend. O’Brien, a former Belichick assistant, and the Texans also spent part of training camp in West Virginia with the Patriots.

He knows that if the Texans want to win, they’ll have to be ready for what the stout Patriots’ offense brings. Patriots ‘really efficient’

“They’re going to go fast, go at a good tempo whether they’re huddled or no-huddle,” O’Brien said. “They just have a really efficient, fast tempo. Not out of control, very efficient, very sharp and you have to make sure, whatever personnel grouping you’re in, whatever the call is, that you’re lined up and that you know what your responsibility is.”

The Texans’ defense is the strength of the team.

Last season, it stepped up in a major way as the Texans lost to the Patriots 34-16 in the playoffs. That game was better than the score suggests. The defense put a lot of pressure on Brady and limited New England’s rushing attack for much of the game.

The Texans can continue to hang their hats on their defense. Superstar J.J. Watt says he is feeling more like himself every week. Jadeveon Clowney has shown continued improvement.

The secondary will be key. One of the most impressive things about the Texans is their 31-game streak of not allowing opposing quarterbacks to throw for more than 300 yards.

The defense can provide pressure up front and tight coverage in the secondary — big keys against an offense like the Patriots.

The defense also will need to create turnovers and possibly score because the offense needs all the help it can get.

Watson shows potential, but the offense as a whole leaves much to be desired.

The offensive line has been cringe-worthy at times.

And Watson has clearly defined DeAndre Hopkins as his goto receiver. You can bet he will be covered nonstop Sunday. Watson will have to find and connect with other targets to get the Texans on the scoreboard.

And he’ll have to find a way to do it quickly.

The Patriots aren’t a team you can fall behind against and expect to come back and beat.

The Texans need a good, quick start. They need to score early and avoid playing from behind.

There won’t be anything easy about Sunday for the Texans.

But it can be the biggest learning experience of the season so far for them. Improvement a must

It’s a long shot (although not impossible) for the Texans to head back to Houston with a win, but they can come back a better team than they were last week or the week before.

Regardless of the outcome of the game, improvement is a must.

The Texans have a lot of football left, and without getting past some of the obstacles in front of them, they’ll have their hands full with teams that are not as talented as the Patriots. The list of challenges is long. It’s time to start checking them off. jenny.creech@chron.com twitter.com/jennydialcreech