On Sunday the Houston Texans Traveled to Foxborough, Massachusetts to take on the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs. In a much closer rematch of their Week 14 showdown, the No. 2 Seed Patriots came away with the victory once again.
With this win, Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady passed San Francisco 49ers’ legend Joe Montana for the most playoff wins ever by a quarterback with 17. Brady was able to overcome losing tight end Rob Gronkowski (who re-injured his recently-healed arm) and running back Danny Woodhead (finger injury) in the first quarter and have a great game: throwing for 344 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions and a 115.0 passer rating.
The Texans’ heralded defense did a terrible job stopping the Patriots’ offense all night; only forcing five punts and allowing the Patriots to rack up 457 yards and to convert 6-13 third downs. The Patriots’ defense didn’t do much better of a job stopping the Texans; Houston quarterback Matt Schaub threw for just one less yard than Brady with 343 and two touchdowns, but he did have an interception. Both teams were only able to sack the opposing quarterback once.
The big difference-maker in this game was the running game, or more specifically: the running backs. Houston needed running back Arian Foster to have a big game for the offense to have the most success, but he had a mediocre (by his standards) day, rushing for just 90 yards and a touchdown. On the other side of the ball, New Englands’ second and third string running backs are the reason they won this game. Stevan Ridley had 82 rushing yards and a touchdown, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Shane Vereen was the star of the show though; rushing for 41 yards and a touchdown, as well as catching five passes for 83 yards and two crucial touchdowns, averaging nearly 17 yards per catch.
Houston did a much better job of keeping the game close this time around, but their defense didn’t show up at all and it cost them the game. New England is now one win away from their sixth Super Bowl appearance in the last 11 years; an impressive feat. But, they’ll have to make it through the Baltimore Ravens, who seem to be doing everything they can to make sure Ray Lewis goes out on top. We’re in for a real treat with next week's’ Conference Championships.