O'Brien EARNING respect, Bill V Bill, and JJ doing his job WELL!

There is zero doubt that over the years the Patriots game for the Texans have been a thorn in their side.  The Texans have lost 6 out of 7 meetings with the Patriots.  The unfortunate thing is that all of the games played at Gillette, the Patriots have scored 40 or more points.  So please stop with the Letterman Jacket references, as they have been blown out all 3 times they played in New England.  Whereas the games played at NRG have been close within 1 or 3 points.  Of course with the exception of last year where the Texans lost 27-6.  Which brings me to the tale of the tape.  There are still people calling Brock Osweiler fool’s gold, and not ready to say that he was the best option.  The one thing that I have noticed from Brock is his ability to throw pin point passes to the receivers.  Minus the two interceptions, every pass that he has thrown to a receiver was right in stride with the speedy receivers that were added in the off season.  Even over throwing Fuller on a couple of occasions.  When you look at Hoyer vs the Patriots and you look at Brock, it is night and day.  Also at that point Brock was making is 2^nd career start. 

Click Here to see Highlights from Brock's win Vs Patriots

 This game was in the snow, and Brock had to work to bring the Broncos from an early deficit to win the game.  Looking at the highlights, the game was never too big for Brock.  He led his team to victory and never had any intentions on anything otherwise.  Brock will need to be patient and not force throws.  Now that he has so many weapons, we no longer have to force throws to DHop.  After 2 years, O’Brien

Has slowly added plays to his arsenal.  However, in the past, he didn’t have the QB or the receivers to fully open the playbook.  I take you back to the Cecil Short Touchdown pass.  I didn’t notice this last year, but Cecil was about .1 seconds a way of not getting that ball off.

Click here to check out Cecil Short touchdown pass.

Now take a look at the formations on the touchdown's from the 1st two weeks.  In week 1, with trips left, Brock throws a screen pass to Fuller V, who takes it up the middle for the touchdown.  Up the middle of the field you have 5 blockers on 4 defenders.  Fuller V presses the turbo button on his Playstation and skips into the end zone.  

This was a result of that Game Plan that you hear so much about.  Keep this formation in mind, as Bill opens up the playbook notice the receiver on the bottom of the screen.  Imagine Braxton Miller where Fuller is, Fuller on the bottom and DHop running a cross route.  Getting very confusing to secondaries as we move forward.  

Now take a look at Brock sell this screen pass to set up the Touchdown pass, with what I'm calling the best 3 consecutive plays in Texans history.

Started by a Brock Osweiler interception, Click here to see the best 3 consecutive plays in Texans History

Because of the success of the Screen Pass, and the Screen Run, Chiefs try to account for the RB, the Receiver, and end up leaving DHop in single coverage.  The linebacker's look like they are dancing as they try to account for everyone.  Not wanting to get beat by the screen, Dhop goes one and one with very late safety help. 

I've heard so much talk about Belichick’s ability to win despite the players he has at his disposal.  This is a big reason why I said in my prediction that this division would come down to coaching.  Belichick took people like Matt Cassel and won 11 games, lost almost all his receivers, and still went to the Super Bowl.  Not to mention let people like Wes Welker, Randy Moss, Aqib Talib, Revis Island, and many more walk and not skip a beat.  In 2 years Bill O’Brien has gone 20-15 with 7 different quarterbacks, losing a star running back, in the playoffs losing JJ and Duane.  Case Keenum was picked up off of a deer lease, TJ wasn’t in the league, and Brandon Weeden wasn’t good enough to stay on a team that went 4-12.  Bill O’Brien took each one of those guys and won a game.  Last year Belichick came into NRG with Gronkowski on crutches and beat us.  Not scoring one touchdown, only converted 3 1^st downs out of 14 tries, and losing time of possession by more than 11 minutes, didn’t give our defense much time to be effective, especially late in the game.  I spoke to you last week about the defensive dominance in the second half of games.  Last week was pretty close to the Patriot game.   Last week the 3rd down production was only 5 of 14, however, the Texans won the Time of possession by over 7 minutes.  I think the most motivation this team has seen was seeing Brock throw an interception, JJ recover a fumble, and then have Brock come back on his very next play and throw a Touchdown bomb to DHop.  Michael Irving seemed to imply that the next man up was specific to Belichick, but I say that one of the branches off his coaching tree is pretty darn similar.  Now let’s talk keys to the game!

Needless to say we need to not allow the Patriots to score 40 points.  We will need to work to make sure that we do not allow this young quarterback to beat us with his legs.  Belichick does whatever it takes to take you away from playing your game.  As fans we just want a win at the end of the day.  But if this team truly wants to be special and have a shot at the prize, Brock will need to come in with the same confidence he had last year when he played them in his second start.  Defense should be aggressive and force him to make calls he’s not comfortable with making.  Every decision counts.  No crazy challenges that may cost time outs.  It will be important that we concentrate on our current trend on defense.  Everyone is flying in the backfield, making tackles for loss, and sacks.  JJ doesn’t have to do it by himself.  AJ Bouye got some pretty good practice for Gronk, facing Kelce.  It will be very interesting to see how the Patriots play the Texans new offensive weapons.  There have been several times where this defense has held teams to no touchdowns.  I’m calling this a victory for the Texans 28-9.  Defense will not allow a Touchdown, and the defense will have 3 Sacks and a pick 6..