TEXANS OFFENSE

The Patriots give up 133 yards per game rushing, so it’s no secret what coach Bill O’Brien, who calls the plays, wants to do. He wants to establish the run with Lamar Miller and D’Onta Foreman. The key will be if the offensive line can open holes for the backs or get stuffed by the Patriots’ front seven, which happened too much in the first two games. The Patriots have to worry about Miller and Foreman bouncing outside. They also have to worry about the breakaway ability of rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has 83 yards rushing on seven carries, including a 49-yard touchdown run at Cincinnati. O’Brien should have some designed plays for Watson to take advantage of his mobility. O’Brien has to pull out all the stops on the ground. There’s a lot of pressure on the coaches to give Deshaun Watson a game plan he can handle. They don’t want to overload him and give him too much to think about. He gets a lot of freedom at the line of scrimmage to change plays, but he has to keep it to a minimum so he doesn’t spend too much time thinking rather than reacting. Because the pass protection has been so bad to mediocre, Watson won’t have much time to throw and should take three-step drops and get rid of the ball fast. Watson needs to be able to throw on the run with rollouts and bootlegs. The idea is to keep the Patriots off-balance and avoid the pass rush that’s designed to confuse him and disrupt his timing with his receivers. Watson has to connect with DeAndre Hopkins.