The Houston Texans put a scare into the New England Patriots Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. Deep down inside, Bill Belichick probably couldn’t be happier.
The final score will go into the history books as a one-sided blowout, which is what we all expected. The Patriots were monumental 16-point favorites and covered that spread with a 34-16 win.
It was the scariest 18-point win we’ve ever witnessed.
Belichick will spend this week reminding them the lessons of Saturday night, that you can’t expect to win an NFL playoff game unless you are completely prepared and ready to go. Usually, that lesson is taught through a loss. Seldom do these teachable moments come along in the playoffs without getting eliminated.
The Patriots survived to play another day, despite giving up three turnovers to a Houston team that hung around until the fourth quarter. Brady threw two interceptions – as many as he had thrown all season.
“We’ll never turn the ball over as much as we did and think it was a great game,” Brady said Saturday night.
Julien Edelman, who caught eight of Brady’s passes for 137 yards, was more blunt.
“We can’t play like that,” Edelman told reporters after the win.
This game was perilously close to going the other way. If Houston had a more competent quarterback – Brock Osweiler threw three second-half interceptions – we might be talking about one of the biggest upset losses in New England history today.
Instead, we’re talking about preparations for an AFC championship game in Foxborough this weekend, the sixth straight conference championship game for the Patriots.
Instead, we’re on to a home game with Pittsburgh. Patriots fans who felt overconfident heading into this past weekend are a lot more concerned about the game ahead. No one thought the Texans had a chance to win. And the Patriots played like they believed showing up Saturday night would guarantee them a win over an inferior opponent.
The next game will pit New England against a better opponent, but not necessarily a better defense. Houston had the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL. Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus made life tough for Brady all night long.
“He was rattled,” Clowney told reporters after the game.
Those are fighting words here in New England, and the Texans put up more of a fight than expected. Belichick wasn’t rattled on the sideline, and after the game said “we have to coach better.”
Strong words from the man many call the greatest NFL coach of all time. He’s coached his defense to the point that it’s now playing the best it has all year – and that’s after the unexpected trade of Jamie Collins to Cleveland. Belichick will spend this week crafting a game plan that he hopes is good enough to get the Patriots to the Super Bowl in Houston on Feb. 5.
He’ll also spend plenty of time looking back at the lessons learned from the first half of the Houston game. Belichick will make sure his team shows up ready to play better football this Sunday.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
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