As far as I’m concerned, everything the Patriots have worked
for the past 4 months has lead up to these next 2 games. Since the schedule
came out last year, every Pats fan saw games vs. the Texans and 49ers, back to
back, at home, and on prime time TV . The Pats will play tomorrow on Monday
Night Football against the 11-1 Texans, who possess the best record in the NFL.
The Texans have a talented QB in Matt Schaub who has thrown
for 3062 yards, 21 TD and 9 Int. Their running back Arian Foster is one of the best
in the world. He lead the NFL in rushing last season and thus far in 2012 has
rushed for 1102 yards and 13 TD. At wide receiver, Andre Johnson has had a
bounce-back year and is once again one of the premiere wideouts in the NFL.
Johnson has accumulated 1114 receiving yards, but has only 3 TD, a remarkably
low number for a player of his caliber. As a group, the Texans are ranked 5th
in the NFL with 389.6 yards per game and 2nd in points per game with
29.2.
On defense, the Texans have one of the best defensive
players in the NFL in J.J. Watt. Watt has 60 tackles and 16.5 sacks. And these
numbers come as a nose tackle which makes them even more impressive since he is
double teamed on almost every play. As a unit the Texans defense ranks 4th
in the NFL allowing only 18.4 points against.
Going into Monday night the Patriots are flying high on a 6
game winning streak, and last week they clinched the AFC East for the 4th
year in a row and the 10th time in 12 years since Brady has been the
starting quarterback. The Patriots, who stand at 9-3, have been running on all cylinders
for about a month now. They rank 1st in the NFL in yards per game
with 426.2 yards and 1st in points per game with an average of 35.8
points per game. That means the difference between 1st place (Patriots)
and 2nd place (Texans) in points per game is 6.6 points. That is an unbelievable
stat, meaning the Patriots score on a average almost a full touchdown more per
game then the next best team. Talk about a powerful offense.
On defense the Pats have continued to improve every week.
They rank 16th in points per game allowed with an average of 21.7
points allowed. But the stat that matters the most for this defense is that
they have forced 33 turnovers, including 26 forced fumbles thus far. A large
majority of those fumbles have come while opponents have been driving toward
the New England end zone. That explains why the Pats rank 27th in
yards allowed per game with 380.8 yards allowed but rank in the middle of the
pack in points allowed.
This game on Monday night and then again on Sunday night
versus the 49ers, another premiere team in the NFL, will prove whether or not
this team is a contender to compete for the Super Bowl. Thus far this season
has been a “warm up” as far as I’m concerned and we will finally see what type
of team we have here. I’m my opinion I think the Texans are a bit overrated but
I think the 49ers are the real deal, primarily because of their defense. But we
will see, Monday night sure should be exciting. There’s nothing better than
watching the Pats play on prime time, especially when the game could be an AFC
Championship game preview.
Prediction:
Patriots 38 – Texans 24
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