Winners and losers from Patriots’ unsettling loss to Texans

This loss will doubtlessly shake New England.

Bill O’Brien finally got his win over Bill Belichick.

The Houston Texans had five straight losses against Belichick under O’Brien, who served as the Patriots offensive coordinator in 2011. Finally, the mentee surpassed the mentor — at least for the night. The Texans beat the Patriots, 28-22. New England’s offense sputtered until late in the game when the Texans started to get complacent — and the Patriots nearly made Houston pay. While the Patriots’ playoff picture isn’t grim, it is certainly growing more complicated with the Baltimore Ravens (10-2) and even the Buffalo Bills (9-3) looking impressive.

Here are the winners and losers from Belichick’s embarrassing loss to the Texans in Week 13 at NRG Stadium on Sunday night.

Winner: James White, RB

He proved to be the Patriots’ most trustworthy option when they fell into a deep hole. He began to gash the defense as a runner and as a pass-catcher. He faced a cornerback in coverage, which at first proved a smart game planning move by Houston. But that meant that, for the most part, the Texans were forced to take a linebacker off the field when White was in the game. That surely helped on White’s 14 carries for 79 yards. With less weight on defense, White seemed to find space in the middle of the defense.

But he also did what he does best. He had eight catches for 98 yards and two touchdown. White was the best and most reliable pass catcher for New England on Sunday in an otherwise rough performance.

Loser: Tom Brady, QB

While trailing 11 points at halftime, Brady had a quarterback rating of 28.8.

The quarterback told his receivers in the first quarter on the sideline that he needed them to be faster, quicker and more explosive. It was clear they weren’t separating well downfield. In the second half, the story was similar until late in the game when Brady padded his stats in a big way (24/47, 326 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT). Only Julian Edelman began to find space (6 catches, 106 yards, 1 TD). The rest of the receivers — Mohamed Sanu, Phillip Dorsett, Jakobi Meyers and N’Keal Harry — proved fairly unreliable at the most important moments.

Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel was clearly one step ahead of Brady while doing what no one has had the sense to do so far this season. Crennel treated White like a receiver by putting a cornerback on him for the first three quarters. Crennel also put a double team on Edelman in the first half.

Even with White and Edelman stepping up in the second half against slackened coverage, Brady looked fairly helpless. He hasn’t been able to elevate the game of his supporting cast in 2019 — and that’s an alarming sentiment considering Brady’s age.

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