3 keys to the New England Patriots beating the Houston Texans
1. Disrupt Deshaun Watson for a full 60 minutes
The key to beating the Houston Texans is to disrupt Deshaun Watson for a full 60 minutes. Period. End of story. The end.
Even if the New England secondary does its job against Houston’s playmakers and the Patriots offense manages to move the ball through the air well against the Texans defense, this game really is going to boil down to whether or not Bill Belichick and his defense can contain Watson.
They did an exceptional job with Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz the past two weeks. Against Lamar Jackson? Not so much.
Speaking of Jackson, his Baltimore Ravens actually should serve as a blueprint for how to rattle Watson and get him off his game. Back in Week 11, Jackson’s Ravens destroyed Watson’s Texans 41-7 largely because Baltimore’s offense eradicated Houston’s defense – but also because the Ravens defense disrupted Watson from kickoff until the end of the game.
The former Clemson Tiger and collegiate National Championship winner had one of the worst games of his NFL career – if not his worst game as a quarterback ever. The Ravens defense forced Watson into completing 62.1% of his passes for 169 yards, bottled him up as a runner in holding him to just 12 yards on three rushes, and picked him off once. They also kept him from scoring any touchdowns – and perhaps most importantly, they sacked him six times (a season high).
The Texans offensive line has improved since Watson’s first two years in the NFL, but that group can still be beat if the Patriots’ pass rushers do their job on Sunday. New England’s impressive sack numbers have slowed a bit as the season has worn on, but this game against the Texans could allow for a nice resurgence on that front. Getting pressure on Watson all night long – and keeping him contained within the pocket – is key to frustrating him into being rendered relatively ineffective.
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Belichick has done a nice job in his first two meetings with Watson in keeping the exciting young dual-threat quarterback from beating the Patriots defense with either his arm or his legs. A third repeat performance should be more than enough to boost New England’s record to 11-1 on the season – even if the Patriots offense falters again and doesn’t fire on all cylinders.