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| Shane Vereen had a rushing touchdown and two receiving touchdowns, including this 33-yarder in the 4th quarter to put the game on ice. Photo credit to The Boston Globe. |
For the second consecutive season, New England will host
Baltimore for the AFC Championship. Yesterday I reviewed how Baltimore advanced
past the divisional round. Now it is time to look at the Patriots.
New England earned the #2 seed in the AFC and so did not
have to play in the wild-card round. Houston, who beat Cincinnati to advance to
the divisional round, was not given much chance to beat the Patriots. By the
time it was 38-13, we knew why.
Houston scored a couple garbage time touchdowns and New
England added a field goal to make the final score 41-28, but the game was
never even that close.
Arian Foster came within 10 rushing yards of his fourth
consecutive 100-yard playoff game. He also gained 63 yards on seven receptions.
Matt Schaub actually had a decent game, completing 34/51 passes
(66.7 completion percentage), for 343 yards, two touchdowns and one pick.
So why was the game never close? Houston’s defense was
absolutely embarrassed in Foxboro for the second time this season, that’s why.
Whereas Houston did not have a single 30-yard completion, for New England, the
longest reception for three different receivers was more than 30 yards.
It was a fairly clean game with just one turnover. Houston
fumbled three times but recovered each of them. It truly was big plays that
ultimately killed the Texans’ postseason run.
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