The Houston Texans and the New England Patriots square off for a Sunday Night Football affair that features one of the faces of new quarterback play in Deshaun Watson versus the old guard at signal caller in Tom Brady. Though the Texans are 7-4 and have not beaten the 10-1 Patriots since a meaningless Week 17 game at the end of the 2009 season, there is a sense of optimism that Houston could take down New England.
Michael Colangelo from the Touchdown Wire is not buying it, and advises bettors to take the Patriots at -3 (-120) over the Texans.
If there were any time in the history of this rivalry — on-sided rivalry — for the Texans to win this game, it’s this Sunday night. The problem for the Texans is that the Patriots are coming in hot on defense and probably angry on offense.
This will be the first week in the past three that the Patriots are playing in good weather since the game will be in a dome. It also doesn’t help that the Houston defense hasn’t been good since J.J. Watt went down.
Everyone is saying that the Patriots may struggle with Deshaun Watson since he’s a mobile quarterback, but they’ve played mobile quarterbacks outside of Lamar Jackson and done just fine.
Bill O’Brien is 0-5 against Bill Belichick. If you want to bet that will change, feel free. I won’t be doing it.
O’Brien, along with defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel and Dolphins coach Brian Flores, are the only former Belichick assistants to not get a win against their old boss.
The Texans have come close in each of their last two contests against the Patriots with a 36-33 loss in Week 3 of 2017, Watson’s second career start, and a 27-20 loss in Week 1 of the 2018 season. If nothing else, the Texans should keep it close and have a chance to win the ballgame.