Patriots vs. Texans: 6 Bold Predictions

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

5. J.J. Watt will prove Bill Belichick right

Yesterday, Bill Belichick drew a drew a comparison between Watt and Lawrence Taylor, who Belichick coached during his days as an assistant with the New York Giants. Here’s a few things Belichick said during his Wednesday presser:

"There’s been very few players I would put in the same conversations with Taylor, but I would put Watt there. It’s early in his career and he’s done a lot already. Taylor did it over a long period of time, but Watt’s done it pretty consistently now. He’s that same kind of player. He’s pretty special. He does a lot of things well and everybody game plans for him every game. He gets a lot of double-teams, the line slides to his side, teams try to run away from him; he does a good job with all of it. They move him around a little bit, so he’s not always in the same place. … He’s done a really good job dealing with a lot of extra attention, similar to some of the things we saw with teams dealing with Taylor in New York. He has that kind of disruptiveness."

Clearly, Watt is on Belichick’s mind, and with good reason. Watt currently leads the NFL in sacks with 13.5, and he will tack-on another three sacks to that total against the Patriots’ slumping offensive line. Those will be the only sacks generated by the Texans, however, so it’s not like Brady will be getting tossed around all game.

Next: 4. Damaris Johnson will fix Pats’ kick return woes