Grantland Bill Barnwell on Texans vs Patriots

[Jules Winnfield]

Houston Texans (12-4) at New England Patriots (12-4)

Like our other AFC matchup, this game is a rematch of a blowout from the middle of December. In fact, New England's cruise to victory over Houston is why this game is in Foxborough; New England's head-to-head victory over Houston was enough to secure them the tiebreaker for the second spot in the AFC. The Texans were forced to suit up during the wild-card round and beat the Bengals, who required some exertion to dispatch in a 19-13 battle.

If you read Thursday's piece on the Ravens-Broncos game and the issues affecting Baltimore's blowout loss from Week 15 in the regular season, you could probably put together a case for revenge if you were a Ravens fan expecting better things in the second contest. The Ravens were without Ray Lewis and starting special-teamers at multiple spots on defense. The Ravens were a pick-111 away from being within three points at halftime with the ball to come at the beginning of the second half, and Baltimore failed to recover the two most important fumbles of the game. You can't turn the numbers into a situation where the Broncos shouldn't be favored, but you can create some doubt.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...-playoff-games

[Vinny]

Hey Jules, you can't throw a full copyNpaste down....Keep it to a tease and a link. I fixed it for you btw

[Dishman]

Originally Posted by Bill Barnwell

Touchdowns, not field goals. Specifically, that means you, Gary Kubiak. It was infuriating last week to see the Texans come up short on drive after drive and see Matt Schaub already halfway to the sidelines as the "fourth-and-2" graphic came up. Houston's running game

Yup.

[Surreal McCoy]

Originally Posted by Bill Barnwell

Touchdowns, not field goals. Specifically, that means you, Gary Kubiak. It was infuriating last week to see the Texans come up short on drive after drive and see Matt Schaub already halfway to the sidelines as the "fourth-and-2" graphic came up. Houston's running game

It was only infuriating if you wanted the Texans to lose. Looks like Kubes made the right decisions on those FGs - even with a dodgy kicker. Well done, Kubiak, we're gonna need even more level headed thinking come Sunday to have a chance at the upset.

[thunderkyss]

in all honesty I think the wild card game was a blessing in disguise. there was a nice step change on performance on both sides of the ball and we need another step change to compete on the next level.

honestly font know of we could have handled these Bengals the way we were playing last week, much less the week before.

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

in all honesty I think the wild card game was a blessing in disguise.

Ridiculous. But I expected someone to come up with this rationalization much earlier.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Lucky

Ridiculous. But I expected someone to come up with this rationalization much earlier.

I'm not giving them a pass for not doing what they needed to do. Even with our health issues, it does not excuse getting beat by a team as bad as the Colts, regardless where they played.

Just saying, I'm glad they shook off some of the funk they had there in December.

[hradhak]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

I'm not giving them a pass for not doing what they needed to do. Even with our health issues, it does not excuse getting beat by a team as bad as the Colts, regardless where they played.

Just saying, I'm glad they shook off some of the funk they had there in December.

I'd agree with it. If we squeaked out a win against the Colts we would have struggled with the 2 weeks off. The Bengals game gave us a chance to get the offense working again. Our RZ troubles are certainly worrisome. I wanna see Gary mix it up on the goal line. None of the teams I've seen so far still in the playoffs are struggling in the RZ like we are now.