Bring on New England

[Tailgate]

24 hr rule my ass. I have never been more pumped up for a game than I am for this one on Monday night. Tom Brady, Belichick, on the road, national TV, December, best record, homefield ramifications... I mean who doesnt want to be in this position??

Lets get this!!!!

[thunderkyss]

What's the line?

[Tailgate]

If I had to guess... Opens at 4.5-5?

[Hervoyel]

It's an interesting matchup. We're beat up defensively, they've got some key pieces out on their offense. We're 1-2 all-time against the Patriots for whatever that's worth. We lost to them back in the Capers era in OT the year they beat the Panthers in the Super Bowl here and Kubiak has gone 1-1 against them. We won here, they won there.

I've been looking at this date for weeks and thinking about playing the Patriots in New England. They're good but so are we. We get a lot of crap about not playing anybody but the Patriots feed on their division of crappy opponents just like every division leader. They talk a lot about how they're rolling so many points up on other teams but their recent win streak is against the Jets, Rams, Bills, Colts, Jets, and Dolphins.

I'm not going to say we will necessarily win this. I will say that we without any doubt can win this.

[TheMatrix31]

Anyone who says we haven't played anyone is a ****ing moron, and quite frankly, they should have their freedom to comment on football matters stripped away from them.

[TheRealJoker]

Next Monday Night the 11-1 Houston Texans are going to Gillette Stadium to face the 9-3 New England Patriots. Primetime.

Playing a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback that's at the top of his game. Jon Gruden in the booth calling it. JJ Watt with national spotlight against a top offense on the road in his defensive player of the year campaign. Matt Schaub ready to engage in a shootout with Tom freaking Brady.

If you can't get excited for this game you aren't a fan of FOOTBALL!!!

[TexansFanatic]

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

Anyone who says we haven't played anyone is a ****ing moron, and quite frankly, they should have their freedom to comment on football matters stripped away from them.

Joseph agrees with you, comrade.

[JMacaroni]

Originally Posted by TheRealJoker

Next Monday Night the 11-1 Houston Texans are going to Gillette Stadium to face the 9-3 New England Patriots. Primetime.

Playing a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback that's at the top of his game. Jon Gruden in the booth calling it. JJ Watt with national spotlight against a top offense on the road in his defensive player of the year campaign. Matt Schaub ready to engage in a shootout with Tom freaking Brady.

If you can't get excited for this game you aren't a fan of FOOTBALL!!!

It's a game, not a nike commercial. Chill

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

It's an interesting matchup. We're beat up defensively, they've got some key pieces out on their offense.

We learned last year, no one is going to cry for us & our injuries. That's not going to change this year. I'm sure there is someone, somewhere marginalizing our 11-1 record right now & they'll marginalize our victory if we manage to defeat the Patriots next week.

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

I've been looking at this date for weeks and thinking about playing the Patriots in New England. They're good but so are we. We get a lot of crap about not playing anybody....

I think we're definitely going to learn something about our boys next Monday. So will the Patriots, so will the NFL.

I expect a fight to the end. Nothing less.

[michaelm]

Originally Posted by JMacaroni

It's a game, not a nike commercial. Chill

Who the **** are you to tell people to chill when they express their opinion? Maybe you ought to make a few thousand more posts around here before you start telling people how they should act.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Ponder is no Brady. If we don't notch up the play of both our offense and our defense (pass rush and secondary), Brady will run up the score and try to run away with total points that this week's offense won't be able to keep up with. Hope that this is not the case. Even if we get a healthy JJo back, it looks like we will have lost even more players to injury this week. Kubiak will need a more creative O play calling to keep us in the game and get us out of Monday without carrying our asses back to Houston. JMHO.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

Ponder is no Brady. If we don't notch up the play of both our offense and our defense (pass rush and secondary), Brady will run up the score and try to run away with total points that this week's offense won't be able to keep up with. Hope that this is not the case. Even if we get a healthy JJo back, it looks like we will have lost even more players to injury this week. Kubiak will need a more creative O play calling to keep us in the game and get us out of Monday without carrying our asses back to Houston. JMHO.

That's why we need the OL & our RBs to step it up next week. We can't just win the T.O.P. we've got to dominate the T.O.P. If we can limit the Bradys to 3 or 4 possessions per half, get two or three stops.... we should win.

What we can't do is get into a shootout. down by 20 in the first half, run the ball. Down by 14 in the 3rd, run the ball. Keep it out of the hands of Tom Brady.

[drs23]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

It's an interesting matchup. We're beat up defensively, they've got some key pieces out on their offense. We're 1-2 all-time against the Patriots for whatever that's worth. We lost to them back in the Capers era in OT the year they beat the Panthers in the Super Bowl here and Kubiak has gone 1-1 against them. We won here, they won there.

I've been looking at this date for weeks and thinking about playing the Patriots in New England. They're good but so are we. We get a lot of crap about not playing anybody but the Patriots feed on their division of crappy opponents just like every division leader. They talk a lot about how they're rolling so many points up on other teams but their recent win streak is against the Jets, Rams, Bills, Colts, Jets, and Dolphins.

I'm not going to say we will necessarily win this. I will say that we without any doubt can win this.

A good, rational post. I can buy into that.

I think we can win as well. I think we can beat any team on any day on any field.

As far as the Pats on Monday night prime time I hope we don't get smoked. If the team that played today shows up (our defense flying around like crazy) and we can track 4 quarters of Texan offense we can win.

Go Texans!

[mussop]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

Ponder is no Brady. If we don't notch up the play of both our offense and our defense (pass rush and secondary), Brady will run up the score and try to run away with total points that this week's offense won't be able to keep up with. Hope that this is not the case. Even if we get a healthy JJo back, it looks like we will have lost even more players to injury this week. Kubiak will need a more creative O play calling to keep us in the game and get us out of Monday without carrying our asses back to Houston. JMHO.

And NE's WR's aren't going to drop pass after pass either. NE and Denver are going to be our worst matchups in the playoffs. I hope we can somehow avoid both of them.

[SAMURAITEXAN]

Originally Posted by Fiddler

That's why we need the OL & our RBs to step it up next week. We can't just win the T.O.P. we've got to dominate the T.O.P. If we can limit the Bradys to 3 or 4 possessions per half, get two or three stops.... we should win.

What we can't do is get into a shootout. down by 20 in the first half, run the ball. Down by 14 in the 3rd, run the ball. Keep it out of the hands of Tom Brady.

Yep, I would like to see NE's O on sidelines much as possible. I do not want Brady bringing his A game to us. Establish running game early and worn out NE's D with our RB trios by keep rotating for a fresh pair of legs. Our OL need to stay strong and no stupid fouls please. Perhaps, an occasional short to mid range pass to keep NE's D off balance and a few long and safe pass to surprise them(If no chance to complete, just throw it away long where no one able to catch). But, basically run first O.

Go Texans!!!

[TexansFanatic]

Originally Posted by mussop

And NE's WR's aren't going to drop pass after pass either. NE and Denver are going to be our worst matchups in the playoffs. I hope we can somehow avoid both of them.

I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell that both of those teams will be bounced before the AFC championship game.

[TexansFanatic]

Originally Posted by Tailgate

If I had to guess... Opens at 4.5-5?

Damn, were you really just guessing? Helluva guess.

It's New England minus 4.5.

[Texn4life]

I honestly feel pretty good about this game for some reason. The Patriots haven't played a good offense in a long time. People have been talking about how well their defense has been performing, but the truth is they've just been benefactor of turnovers. The Colts offense moved the ball on the, but shot themselves in the foot.

If we can jump out to an early lead I like our chances. Stopping Hernandez is going to be tough though. That's the one matchup that is gonna give us fits. Something tells me the Texans were probably game planning some this week for the Pats in advance. I think we'll come out ready to play.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

Ponder is no Brady. If we don't notch up the play of both our offense and our defense (pass rush and secondary), Brady will run up the score and try to run away with total points that this week's offense won't be able to keep up with. Hope that this is not the case. Even if we get a healthy JJo back, it looks like we will have lost even more players to injury this week. Kubiak will need a more creative O play calling to keep us in the game and get us out of Monday without carrying our asses back to Houston. JMHO.

Thats a fact ... Ponder is no Brady but then again , what got Ponder going late , Brady cant do. He's not going to beat you with his legs. He's much like Schaub in that he's not often going to get out of the pocket other than on designed plays.

As for play calling by Kubiak , Im with you. If they expect to win this one , they are going to have to be a bit more creative than they have in past weeks.
I also dont believe that they can throttle it back if they get up a couple scores like they tend to do against the weaker teams. I know they dont want to show more than they are forced to , but they better come prepared to convers consistently on 3rd down , convert in the redzone and dominate the TOP.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Corrosion

I know they dont want to show more than they are forced to , but they better come prepared to convert consistently on 3rd down , convert in the redzone and dominate the TOP.

Nothing to worry about. We've got Matt. He's clutch.