Patriots Take Over Texans’ Rodeo With Close Win

Good evening Patriots fans! Wow, what a game. After a miraculous 34-31 win against Denver last week (which I witnessed from section 319), the New England Patriots were in Houston to take on the Texans. After a sluggish first half, the Pats had a better 2^nd half (never heard that one before…) and got that W to go 9-3!

Houston got the ball to start the game and started the game pretty well. Keshawn Martin returned the punt for 50 yards and gave the Texans great field position, but they went 3 and out. New England could not respond either and the Texans took advantage. With help from catches by Andre Johnson, the Houston drew first blood with a touchdown run from Ben Tate. The Patriots then drove down the field but Tom Brady got picked off, which lead to a 43 yard field goal from Randy Bullock (it’s funny because he has “Bull” in his last name and he plays for the Texans…ok I’m done). Josh Boyce returned the ball on the ensuing punt to give the Patriots some great field position. New England drove down the field and ended the drive with Brady finding a diving Rob Gronkowski in the endzone for a touchdown. But the Texans didn’t take long to get into the Patriots’ redzone. Thankfully, Case Keenum threw a pick to Logan Ryan. This gave the Patriots the opportunity to get to the Texans’ 37, but Stephen Gostkowski missed the 55 yard field goal. The miss gave Houston decent field position and they took advantage. Tate juked several Patriots defenders and sprinted into the endzone. At the end of the first half, it was 17-7 Texans.

But the good thing is that the Patriots got the ball to start the second half. After a big catch by Gronk that got the Patriots into the redzone, Shane Vereen almost capped off the drive with a touchdown. He was just short but no problem, because fullback James Devlin (who by the way is a Brown University graduate) took role of running back and powered his way into the endzone. You probably figured out by now that Stevan Ridley got benched. On the next New England possession, Julian Edelman made some big plays to get the Pats deep inside Houston territory and Vereen finally got his touchdown. He caught a short pass from Brady and sprinted into the endzone literally untouched. Unfortunately the Texans responded with some big plays from Johnson and Tate, but Keenum ran it into the endzone himself. No problem though, the Pats drove down the field and with the help of Edelman’s clutch 3^rd down catch, LeGarrette Blount forced his way into the endzone for a New England touchdown. Seems like the Texans weren’t done though. Keenum bombed the ball to DeAndre Hopkins for a 66 yard reception…blame Kyle Arrington for blowing that coverage. This eventually led to another touchdown run from Tate. Still, the Patriots offense played their game. Though they were (obviously) hoping for a touchdown, they settled for a 53 yard field goal from Gostkowski. After a Texans 3 and out, New England got the ball back with 6:44 to go. A huge catch by Gronk on 3^rd and 3 gave the Pats a first down but he was limping. He would later return but New England settled for another 53 yard field goal from Gostkowski.

That would be all. The New England Patriots held their ground and defeated the Houston Texans 34-31. That’s two consecutive 34-31 games. Pretty cool, eh? And guess what else? The Pats did not get flagged once the entire game! That’s tremendous. The Patriots return back home to Foxboro next week to take on the Cleveland Browns. Enjoy the day Pats fans, it’s ours! Let’s go Patriots!