After a strong, redeeming win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Houston Texans are going on their first road game of the year to take on the New England Patriots. Now usually facing the Patriots may be a tough task but this season might be a different story. The Pats will be without quarterback Tom Brady as he is serving a 4 game suspension and his replacement, Jimmy Garopolo, is out as well due to injury. So in comes 3rd string quarterback Jacoby Brissett. It sounds like a piece of cake but there are some worries.
Let’s look at the obvious factors that are going on right now. The Texans are coming off of a short week then hitting the road. However, they might not be as unprepared for this road trip as they have had 2 weeks to begin their season at home, so they should be somewhat refreshed. But there could be an issue when that road game is played in one of the toughest stadiums to win in the NFL. The Patriots do not care who you are, they are making noise for their team no matter who is at quarterback and it could be big if any timeouts are used early to avoid the play clock running out.
But the plus side is our defense will be facing a 3rd string quarterback and our secondary looks to be improving. Yeah, Brissett will be playing in the “system” that made Tom Brady famous, but there’ not a lot a 3rd stringer can do after he came off the bench 4 days ago. Our passing attack is definitely coming along well. Receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller each had 100 yards receiving and QB Brock Osweiler looks comfortable throwing the ball downfield.
If Osweiler can make better decisions early on (i.e. not throw interceptions on the drive of the game), then Houston can definitely get control of this game early. Even with that, they will also need to jump start the running game throughout the contest. In this video I will explain how running the ball can guarantee the win for this week.
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