A busy weekend of live blogs continues for me with Sunday Night Football on NBC. Tonight the New England Patriots (10-2) can take back the driver’s seat in the AFC with a win over the Houston Texans (6-6). The Texans, with a win, can take control of the AFC South and control their own destiny for a playoff berth. This game suddenly got very important.
Scroll on down for the live blog. Keep reading for preview information.
First up, here’s my pick from The FAQ.
Sunday Night
New England at Houston (+3.5)
Everyone has jumped off the Patriots bandwagon and that’s always nice, but that person-less bandwagon is probably still going to roll over the Texans. Pats 27, Texans 19
And here’s my entries for both teams in this week’s Power Rankings.
6. New England Patriots – (10-2) “Freefall” may have been too strong a word. Rob Gronkowski returned to practice this week with a brace on his leg and there’s a chance he’ll take the field Sunday against the Texans. Maybe my conspiracy theory was off after all. Last week: No. 4
16. Houston Texans – (6-6) The Texans teased their fans with a nice little run there before screwing it up last week with a loss to the Bills. It’ll take more than a tease to beat the Patriots this week. Last week: No. 13
And here’s our GMS Preview.
The Houston Texans (6-6) take on the New England Patriots (10-2) this week in a game that will feature the NFL’s third-leading receiver, DeAndre Hopkins (1,169 yards, 10 TDs), and leading passer, Tom Brady (3,912 yards, 31 TDs). Kickoff is at 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec 13 and will air on NBC.
In last week’s game, Houston fell to the Bills 30-21. Brian Hoyer had a great game through the air in the loss, connecting on 26 of 43 pass attempts for 293 yards, three TDs and one interception. DeAndre Hopkins also had a great game with 88 yards and a TD on five catches. New England also came up short, losing to the Eagles 35-28. Tom Brady had a quality performance through the air for the Patriots, connecting on 29 of 56 pass attempts for 312 yards, three TDs and two interceptions.
New England is a three-point favorite in this game against the Texans. According to the oddsmakers, the Over/Under (O/U) is currently at 44 points.
Sitting at 6-6 for both Straight Up (SU) and Against The Spread (ATS), the Texans will look to improve heading into Week 14. In their five most recent matchups, the Texans went 4-1 for both SU and ATS. The Texans love to throw, ranking third in the league with 41.7 passing attempts per game. Turning to the Texans defense, there are several areas to keep an eye on. The Patriots will need to leverage their strengths against Houston’s top-ranked home game run defense. The Texans allow only 78.3 rushing yards at home. Expect the pace to pick up when the Houston offense takes the field. They rank second in the NFL for number of plays with 71.5 per game.
Shifting to the opposition, the Patriots head into Week 14 with records of 5-4-3 ATS and 10-2 SU. Over their last five games, the Patriots have a SU record of 3-2 and a 1-3-1 record ATS. Houston fans may be in for disappointment when the Patriots come to town this week. New England averaged a whopping 297.0 passing yards per game over its last five matchups. Moving on to the New England defense, there are certain areas where it measures up well against the Texans. The Patriots’ defensive backs could be in for a good game when it faces off against the Texans, who rank 31st in terms of completion percentage with an average of 57.6%. The Patriots have been outplaying their opponents’ offensive lines this year. New England’s defense leads the league with an average of four sacks per road game. The first quarter is key for the quick-starting Patriots, who average 6.2 points in the first 15 minutes. New England has avoided penalties this season, receiving 6.4 per game, the fifth-fewest in the league.
Predictions: SU Winner – NE, ATS Winner – NE, O/U – Under
The game is on NBC. Watch it with me.
