Pats blank Texans, 27-0
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The more assets the Patriots lose this season, the better they seem to play.
New England entered Week 3 of Tom Brady’s four-game “Deflategate” suspension down to just one healthy full-time quarterback following backup Jimmy Garoppolo’s shoulder injury last week against Miami.
But not even one of the NFL’s top-ranked defenses could slow down a Patriots train that has barely missed a beat while getting off to a 3-0 start.
The latest exhibition was a 27-0 dismantling of the Houston Texans (2-1), a team that suddenly looked very pedestrian.
“We really asked a lot out of the team this week — they responded,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “Just really proud of the way our guys competed.”
Belichick rolled the dice by not adding another quarterback to the roster during the short week, and the trust he had in rookie Jacoby Brissett proved to be spot on .
Brissett began the season as the third-string quarterback behind Brady and Garoppolo. He trotted out on the field Thursday as the first rookie start for the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe in 1993.
He didn’t have a stats-rich game, but was composed and made plays when it counted. He finished the night 11 of 19 for 103 yards, and ran eight times for 48 yards and a touchdown.
“You just always want to be ready and we have a great team, so players just welcome you no matter who is in the huddle,” Brissett said. “At any moment in the game no one wavered, no one flinched, and the results proved themselves with what our team did tonight.”
Under Belichick, quarterbacks are 6-0 in their first career start.
The Patriots have 10 days to recuperate, with only a game against Buffalo (0-2) on Oct. 2 remains before Brady could inexplicably return to a 4-0 team.
Meanwhile a Texans team that looked so promising after wins over Chicago and Kansas City, was lethargic in all three phases.
Rob Gronkowski finally made his 2016 debut after sitting out the first two weeks of the season nursing a sore hamstring. He wasn’t his normal self by any means. He played 14 snaps and was targeted just one time. It was the first time he appeared in a regular-season game and went without a catch.
“I got to get my feet wet,” he said. “It felt great just to get out there. I blocked the whole time.”
J.J. Watt was a non-factor one a week after he had 1 1/2 sacks and seemed to be on his way back to the form that won him the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award last season. Watt assisted on just two tackles in the game, and the Texans were only able to sack Brissett once in the game, for a loss of 6 yards.
Watt is 0-5 (including one playoff game) against the Patriots, recording only a 1/2 sack in those contests.
Belichick has always been a stickler about special teams. It paid off big time on Thursday. New England forced and recovered two fumbles on Texans’ kickoffs that led to 14 points. Brandon Bolden forced the first one in the first quarter, which was scooped up by Duron Harmon on Houston’s 22 to set up Brissett’s touchdown run. Later in the third quarter Nate Ebner forced another fumble that was recovered by Jordan Richards on the Texans’ 21. It set up a 1-yard score by LeGarrette Blount.
Blount has scored touchdowns in all three games this season. He ran 24 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns, including a 41-yarder.
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