Tom Brady talks Houston Texans, Richard Sherman

The New England Patriots are set to face off the Houston Texans in a rematch of a Monday Night Football game earlier this season, and Arian Foster and the Texans feel that they “owe” the Patriots one (referencing a tweet of Foster’s). The Patriots clobbered them the first time this season 42-14, but Tom Brady and the Pats know all to well that a blowout in the regular season has little correlation with future success against that opponent in the playoffs.

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But for the Patriots, I think it does this time around. The Texans are coming off of some more awful performances, and Matt Schaub looks like his confidence is completely shot. They lost to the rival Indianapolis Colts to close out the season, and that costed the Texans a bye. That’s a bye they didn’t deserve, and they proved it by barely eeking out a victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Texans are much better than this, though, and a rematch against the Patriots might be the motivation needed to spurn a revenge victory.

Here is what Brady said about the Texans on Dennis & Callahan, “I don’t think that game is going to have any bearing on what happens next week. It was a big win for our season, it was a big win at that time. But this game is going to be entirely different, and I think we’ve got to be able to put just as much preparation into the game as we did before. … We know these guys. I think that’s the part that I enjoy, is that I’ve already spent a lot of time preparing for them. So, to have another week to do it, you feel like you’re going to know them that much better. Now, we’ve still got to go out and execute against it.”

Brady brings up a point here that I agree wholeheartedly with, and it is the reason why I wanted the Patriots to face the Texans instead of the Bengals; the Pats have already played (and beaten) Houston. They know what to expect against the Texans, and there probably won’t be any surprises either. It has little do to with which team I think is better, because the Texans are better than the Bengals and proved that on Saturday.

Richard Sherman and Tom Brady had a little bit of trash talking in a meeting early in the season, and Brady, for maybe the first time ever, wasn’t able to back up that talk as the Patriots lost in Seattle. The Seahawks cornerback picked off a pass and safety Earl Thomas did too after both were singled out by Brady earlier in the game. Sherman took the trash talk at the end of the game too far, and he got into a scuffle with Washington Redskins tackle Trent Williams. Both players are on good terms again after that heated battle, and below is what Brady said when asked about Sherman.

“Everyone reacts differently. I have my own style. I just try to be respectful to the opponents, because I have a lot of respect for the opponents. It’s not a bunch of B.S. Guys that are playing in the NFL are pretty good players. I just give them the respect they deserve. I’ve played a lot of really great players in my career — the best cornerbacks, the best linebackers, the best defensive linemen. When you play against Dwight Freeney and Jason Taylor, and you play against those guys and you realize you’re going to have to play them again, you’d better say as many nice things as you can, which is kind of what I like to do.”

Very classy response from Brady.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.