Patriots V.S. Texans Preseason Preview
Week 2 of the preseason is underway and the Patriots will take on the Texans on Saturday night at 8:00 pm. This is somewhat of an unlikely foe in the preseason, seeing that they play the Texans in week 3 of the regular season. Nonetheless, they have been having joint practices together all week, and things have gotten chippy between the teams. It should stay under control during the preseason with maybe a little between the lines dirty play, that should make for a great regular season matchup. Here are some things to look out for on Saturday night.
Rumor has it that we are going to see much more of the starters than we did in the first preseason game. Typically most teams will throw their starters out for about a quarter in week 3 of the preseason, but with the competitive nature between these two teams look for it to be this week. Now that doesn’t mean everyone, I’m sure the glass bones of Gronk and chandelier body of Danny Amendola will not touch the field. Don’t be surprised if Tom comes out fired up for the first 3 drives, and if Jules stays on the field for a 4th to catch some passes from Jimmy.
I hope on the other side of the ball we get around a quarters worth of DeAndre Hopkins v.s. Stephon Gilmore. This will be his first real test off of the practice field as a Patriot, and if these two get it going in this preseason game its gonna make for a fun week 3 matchup. Logan Ryan really took it to Hopkins last season, only allowing him 4 catches. If Gilmore lives up to expectations then the Pro Bowl receiver shouldn’t be able to breathe with him around.
As much as we all love Tom, I think QB’s who’s last name isn’t Brady will be interesting in this game. I’m very interested in the competition going on in Houston between Tom Savage and DeShaun Watson, as I’m sure most people are. It’ll be very fun to see who performs better to win the starting job. As much as everyone has been so concerned with Jimmy G recently, I’m more interested in Jacoby Brissett for this game. Remember that time he started against them and lead a 27-0 victory like it was no big deal? I wanna see if he can have a similar performance when he gets his chance in this game. He should know this team well enough to manage a game against them the same way he did last season.
Lastly, I wanna see Kony Ealy step it up. Personally, I was most excited about him as an offseason acquisition because of the potential he holds that has not been let out yet. Apparently its still hiding because he’s had a disappointing training camp. He needs to start pressuring the Texans QBs in this game to prove himself. At the moment it seems like Deatrich Wise is the man for that spot. If the regular season could include a combination of both of them subbing off eachother, and succeeding, we may finally have the pass rush we’ve been looking for.
Does the score really matter in this game? Yeah sure why not I’ll take a stab at it. 21-13 Pats.
Written By: Jake Kobierski (@TheRealKobe83)