Patriots/Texans: Odds, weather, TV/radio, matchups, and other info

The New England Patriots face the Houston Texans this Sunday night in an important primetime clash between divisional leaders in the AFC.

The New England Patriots take on the Houston Texans this week in a game that has major ramifications for both teams as the calendar flips to December and the final month of the regular season.

The Patriots are 10-1 and atop the AFC pecking order in terms of playoff seeding. They currently own a one-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens for the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the postseason, and are also a game-and-a-half up over the Buffalo Bills for first-place in the AFC East.

New England can punch their playoff ticket with a win over the Texans and either a Steelers loss to the Browns or a Raiders loss to the Chiefs. Both of those games will have finished before the Patriots take the field in Houston, so New England will know whether or not they have an opportunity to clinch their spot in the postseason before the opening whistle of Sunday Night Football.

The Texans are 7-4 and also sit atop their division – the AFC South – with a one-game lead over the Indianapolis Colts. The Texans and Colts split their season series, which means that Houston is now in the driver’s seat for the division. If the season ended today, Bill O’Brien’s squad would be the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Patriots lead the all time series against the Texans 10-1, including two wins in the postseason (both at Gillette Stadium). The Texans have never beaten the Patriots in a game that Tom Brady starts and finishes; they’ve also never beaten Bill Belichick in the Bill O’Brien era (0-5).

Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson has made the Texans more competitive against quality competition around the league ever since he was drafted 12th overall back in 2017, but even Watson has struggled in two career starts against Belichick’s defense.

In his first career game against New England, Watson completed 66.7% of his passes, threw for 301 yards, rushed for 41 yards, and had two passing touchdowns against two interceptions. In his second game against the Pats (Week 1 of last season), Watson completed only 50% of his passes, threw for 176 yards, rushed for 40 yards, and had one touchdown and one pick.

To Watson’s credit, however, both losses were narrow, with the first coming by just a field goal and the second by just a touchdown.

This Houston team in 2019 is arguably better than the 2017 and 2018 incarnations.

Watson is a more experienced and polished player, and he still has DeAndre Hopkins as his No. 1 wide receiver. Will Fuller is mostly healthy and should be active for this game as Watson’s No. 2 receiver and deep threat, and Kenny Stills is a terrific third option at wideout. Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson Jr. are also a potent two-headed running back combination coming out of the backfield for the Houston offense.

The Texans defense – manned by former Patriots coordinator Romeo Crennel – is definitely weaker this season than the past two years, though. J.J. Watt is out for the remainder of the season with a torn pectoral, and Jadeveon Clowney now plays for Pete Carroll up in Seattle. Vince Wilfork is long gone, Jonathan Joseph is past his prime, and only Whitney Mercilus and Benardrick McKinney remain as top-tier options.

As a result, Houston ranks 20th in total yards allowed per game defensively – they’re 25th against the pass and 17th against the run. The Texans are also 17th in the NFL in scoring defense. By any major defensive metric, this is either a mediocre or even a bad defensive team.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, the New England offense isn’t exactly a well-oiled machine this year, either. The Pats are just 18th in total yards of offense this season, eighth in passing offense, and 23rd in rushing offense. New England is fifth in scoring, but that stat is skewed a bit because of all the defensive and special teams touchdowns the Pats have had this year.

New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and quarterback Tom Brady will surely be hoping they have a more complete group of weapons this weekend when they take on the Texans. The Patriots were down two of their top three wideouts last weekend against Dallas (Phillip Dorsett and Mohamed Sanu).

Dorsett missed the game because he was still in the league’s concussion protocol; he has since been cleared to return to action, and should resume his role in the Patriots offense against the Texans as Brady’s best deep threat. Sanu is still nursing an ankle sprain and has been limited in practice this week, but he, too, should be able to play this Sunday if cleared by New England’s trainers.

The Patriots also could see bigger contributions on offense from rookie wideouts N’Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers, both of whom had important receptions for the team in the win over the Cowboys. And there’s always Julian Edelman, of course… this offense should be trending in the right direction this weekend versus the Texans.

Here’s all the info you need to take in this week’s big game:

Date: Sunday, December 1, 2019
Kickoff time: 8:20 pm EST
Location: Houston, Texas
Stadium: NRG Stadium
TV channel: NBC
Radio: TuneIn
Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)
Betting odds: New England -3 (Over/Under: 46), courtesy of The Action Network
Weather updates: 57 degrees F; clear; 0% chance of precipitation

The Patriots need to defeat the Texans to maintain their advantage over the Bills in the AFC East as well as their slim lead over the Ravens for home-field advantage. A win over Houston would send New England into the final four weeks of their schedule with plenty of confidence and momentum – and it’s also worth noting that three of those final four games will be played at home in Foxborough.