New England Opens Season with Tough Win Against Houston

On Sunday the New England Patriots defeated the Houston Texans in the first game of the 2018 NFL Season. New England gave a full team effort to prevail over a very game Houston Texans team to open their season 1-0.

Last week I gave four questions or storylines to look for on Sunday. All four questions were answered on Sunday and the Patriots put a hold on the Texans chances of upsetting New England in week one.

Let’s look to see how the Patriots did on Sunday.

1st Down: Super Bowl Hangover?

It was a long offseason for the Patriots after coming up short against Philadelphia in the Super Bowl. This was the third time during the Brady-Belichick era that the Patriots have lost a Super Bowl. Even though the Patriots revamped their roster for another title run, there was still the possibility of a Super Bowl hangover. As a matter of fact, it has been almost 15 years since a team has repeated as Super Bowl champions and only one team has made it to consecutive Super Bowls (Patriots in 03-04 and Seahawks in 13-14). Plus, the Patriots have not made it to the big game since losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl twice and one time they

failed to reach the playoffs.

However, despite playing a little sloppy at times, the Patriots seem to have a strong team to make another legitimate run at the Super Bowl. So, a Super Bowl hangover does not seem to be in the cards for New England but there are still 15 more games left in the 2018 season.

2nd Down: Replacing Edelman

Julian Edelman has been an important player on the Patriots offense for years. He missed all last season with a torn ACL and will miss three more games because of suspension. Last season the offense took a while to pick up steam and there was a chance this season for New England to start slow again because of Edelman’s absence.

Many players were going to step up and three players did. Rob Gronkowski had seven catches for 123 yards and one touchdown while Phillip Dorsett had seven catches for 66 yards and one touchdown as well. James White had four catches for 38 yards and one touchdown as well. Rex Burkhead got the running game going with 18 catches for 64 yards. Those four players were the only ones who made any impact on the offensive side of the football and it was enough to get by Houston but more players like Chris Hogan must step up and make some plays.

3rd Down: New Look on Defense

Statistically, the Patriots defense was one of the worst in history. They gave up a lot of points and just as many yards against offenses that were not that good. As a result, the Patriots revamped their defense and made the defense a little simpler. Also, the defense got Dont’a Hightower back to lead the defense after missing the rest of the season last year including the postseason.

Maintaining pressure on the opposing quarterback was an issue last season. Against Houston, the defensive line flexed their muscles on the Texans offensive line and contained DeShaun Watson from scrambling which is his strength. Trey Flowers and Deatrich Wise both had 1.5 sacks a piece but the pressure on Watson just as good as he was under pressure all day. The secondary was just as good only allowing one play of over 20 yards and it was 27 yards. Jonathan Jones and Stephon Gilmore were the bright spots with one interception (Gilmore) and Jones had a few deflections.

4th Down: Protect Tom Brady

The Patriots lost two of their best offensive linemen during the offseason (Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon) and protecting Tom Brady is something that needs to be done for New England to have any success this season. The line had a tough test to open the season by keeping JJ Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus from their 41-year-old quarterback. Newcomer Trent Brown played tremendous and had a hand in keeping those three players off the stat sheet. Aside from a few sacks, Tom Brady had plenty of time to throw the ball and stayed on his feet most of the game. The line did their job.

There were a few mistakes here and there, the Patriots did not play a perfect game, but they answered all four questions. There is still a lot of work to be done but wining the first game of 16 against a formidable opponent like Houston is a good way to begin the season.