The Baltimore Ravens, New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs may have been tough tasks for the Houston Texans, but their toughest of the season is just days away. The 10-1 New England Patriots are coming to face the 7-4 Texans on Sunday night.
Not an offensive team such as in years past, the Patriots, in 2019, take pride in playing sound defensive football under coach Bill Belichick — arguably the greatest defensive mind in football history.
Rarely does the Patriots defense make mistakes, whether it be playing the pass or run.
“They’re disciplined, obviously,” said Texans center Nick Martin on Monday. “So, you got to prepare for that, just like every week. I mean, every week you got to prepare the same. You don’t prepare differently because it’s a certain team, but you just got to come to work and work every day.”
The Texans must match the Patriots’ discipline. New England has bottled up the run all year, allowing the ninth-best 98.4 yards per game. Houston, who rushes for the sixth-best 136.9 yards per game, will look to avoid mistakes to get the ground game going.
“They’re a great team, obviously,” continued Martin. “They’ve proven that year in and year out. So, again, they are disciplined, so they’ll take advantage of your mistakes. So you just got to be as disciplined.”
Martin stresses avoiding mistakes and staying disciplined — near synonyms. He, as the center of the offensive line, will have to be a catalyst to that notion. The 26-year-old will face nose tackle Danny Shelton for most of the game; a big, bludgeoning force that will take advantage of Martin’s mistakes.
“You’ve got to respect a guy like that,” said Martin on Shelton. “But, on Sunday, you’ve got to be prepared to block him.”
Like Martin, the rest of the offensive line will have to face well respected Patriots defenders. To pull off the upset win, they must keep them at the line of scrimmage, and not in No. 4’s face.