Patriots vs. Texans: Houston Grades, Notes and Quotes

Well, at least the Jacksonville Jaguars saved the Houston Texans from a complete disaster in Week 14, but silver linings don't boost morale much after a loss like Sunday night's.

The New England Patriots have once again demonstrated the Grand Canyon-sized gap between the two franchises with another dominant 27-6 win in a victory that clinched their team a playoff berth for what seems like the 50th year in a row. Tania Ganguli of ESPN tweeted:

"

"They out coached us, out played us," DeAndre Hopkins says. #Texans

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) December 14, 2015"

Houston obviously has work to do to secure its own playoff spot for the first time since 2012 but miraculously still controls its destiny going into the massive showdown at Indianapolis next week.

Is it still a "showdown" when both teams have a sub-.500 record? Anyway, I digress.

There's no such thing as a guaranteed win with an offensive line and quarterback playing this poorly, but the Texans' final two games are against Tennessee and Jacksonville, so if they're able to defeat the Colts in Week 15, their odds of making the playoffs will be pretty good.

The Texans were in a similar spot last year with a 7-6 record going into their Week 15 game at Indianapolis, but they lost a one-possession game to the Colts. If they lose this December semi-playoff game for a second year in a row, their chances of returning to the postseason will be deader than The Walking Dead's Hershel Greene.

Position Grades for the Texans

Bob Levey/Getty Images

Quarterback: D

Maybe this next line should just be saved for future articles so it can be copied and pasted in each week, but Brian Hoyer once again played like a rookie at times by staring down his receivers and leaving his throws behind and/or low of the intended target.

Hoyer's struggle with accuracy took points off the board and cost the Texans valuable field position at different points throughout the game.

During the Texans' first scoring drive that ended with a Nick Novak field goal, Hoyer badly underthrew Nate Washington on a deep pass off a double-move route. Washington still caught the pass for 49 yards, but he might have scored if the pass had been on time and put out in front.

Later on that drive, on a 3rd-and-5 play, Hoyer stared down Cecil Shorts from the snap to his release on a curl route, which made it really easy for defensive back Leonard Johnson to break on the pass and cause a drive-ending incompletion.

On the Texans' last possession of the first half, Hoyer also badly missed his mark on a pass attempt to Ryan Griffin on a 3rd-and-3 play. The pass from Hoyer was thrown comically behind Griffin, which forced the Texans to punt and gave the Patriots the ball back with time to score.

Had Hoyer put the pass on target, the Texans would have picked up the first down and at least taken off more time and added yards before punting the ball back to New England. If the Patriots begin their drive 10 yards or more farther back and with a minute less on the clock, do they still score before the half?

Maybe, but Rob Gronkowski scored with 19 seconds left in the half; the Texans could have taken off that time had Hoyer's pass been on target and they picked up the first down, right?

This entire article could be filled up by examples of Hoyer missing throws, but on just those two possessions, his inaccuracy cost the Texans four points and gave the Patriots four points; that's a huge problem.

Hoyer's grade could have been an F, but he gets bumped up a letter because of the disastrous protection from the Texans offensive line.

Running Back: C+

The group as a whole was held under 100 yards for the first time in three weeks, but after the Texans fell behind by a couple scores, the running game was naturally forgotten about.

Houston did get a good individual effort from Jonathan Grimes, who averaged 7.6 yards per carry on only seven attempts. Grimes once again proved to be its most effective and efficient back but didn't get the ball enough to make a real impact.

Alfred Blue did not get a single carry in this game, and that's a good thing. 

Wide Receiver: C-

DeAndre Hopkins was again held under 60 yards and also to a season-low three receptions, but with how poorly the offensive line and quarterback played, he really didn't have a chance to post big numbers.

Nate Washington had his normal couple drops, but he could have had two touchdowns on deep passes that Hoyer underthrew and threw late. That doesn't excuse his drops, but Washington's stat line would look a lot prettier with two long touchdowns to his credit.

Jaelen Strong was active but only targeted once. Regardless of what he looks like in practice or how ready the coaches believe him to be, if they lose to the Colts next week, Strong should get second-receiver snaps over their final two games.

If their playoff chances are dead, at least get the kid some experience and evaluate the strength of the position going into the offseason.

Tight End: F

Ryan Griffin looked like he had J.J. Watt's casts on both hands the way he dropped passes against the Patriots. The third-down play during their last possession of the first half was excusable because of how poor the pass was from Hoyer, but Griffin has to catch the ball better.

Griffin was targeted six times but caught only one pass. One of six! That's a horrible ratio even factoring in Hoyer's accuracy issues.

That one catch from Griffin was the only reception for the position group against New England. 

Offensive Line: F

There's no other way to put it: The Texans offensive line got dominated by the front seven of the Patriots.

Houston quarterbacks were sacked five times but hit on another 10 plays as the Patriots defensive lineman and linebackers seemed to live in the Texans backfield all game. 

"

The #Texans gave up five sacks against the Chiefs, the most this year. Have tied that so far.

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) December 14, 2015"

In particular, Derek Newton was a complete disaster. Putting all their other issues aside, if Newton doesn't play better than that, they'll continue to put up only six points in each remaining game. 

Defensive Line: C

Hopefully he'll become more comfortable with how to play around the injury, but the broken hand and cast on that hand clearly impacted the play of J.J. Watt. Normally the Texans move Watt to different spots on the defensive line to create mismatches, but the hand limited that versatility in this game. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweeted:

"

J.J. Watt: 'There were times it was painful, but that’s football. People play with pain all the time.'

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 14, 2015"

The Texans hit Tom Brady, but those positive defensive plays didn't seem to come at the crucial moments or ever swing the momentum of the game. They held the Patriots to just 3.7 yards per attempt on the ground, but again didn't seem to come through in the key moments. 

Linebackers: B

The individual stats look good for the linebackers, but they seem misleading in terms of the impact those stats had on the outcome.

Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus combined for three sacks, three other tackles for loss and three hits on the quarterback. Benardrick McKinney led the team in tackles with 10, and Brian Cushing had nine tackles, including two for a loss. 

"

.@HoustonTexans OLB Whitney Mercilus picks up a sack. He now has 7.5 sacks this season which is a single-season career-high #NEvsHOU

— Texans PR (@TexansPR) December 14, 2015"

Lots of pretty stats, but not enough.

In particular, the linebackers didn't seem prepared for the Patriots' blocking scheme with the use of blockers coming across the formation to block a defender on the opposite side.

New England kept pulling linemen and leaving a defender free on the backside who thought he was going to make a play, but wham—they would get hit and stopped by an unseen blocker.

Then, of course, New England smartly ran play action off that with the offensive player who looked like a blocker coming across the formation but slipping out into a route instead of blocking the free defender.

The Patriots kept them guessing and confused for most of the game.

Defensive Backs: B

Brady's previous low for passing yards in a game this season was 275, but the Texans held him to 226 passing yards in the losing effort. Besides the low total for passing yards, Brady's stats otherwise look like a normal game for him.

Kevin Johnson gave up another touchdown, but Kareem Jackson was second on the team in tackles and Johnathan Joseph had a solid game, including a big pass breakup on a long attempt in the first half.

Solid performance overall, but again it wasn't enough against an all-time great quarterback.

Special Teams: C+

Nick Novak and Shane Lechler did nice jobs, but the return teams came up short once again.

Novak made two field goals and Lechler averaged 45 yards per punt, but the return teams didn't hold up their end of the bargain.

Texans castoff Keshawn Martin averaged just over 11 yards per punt return, while both Cecil Shorts and Akeem Hunt failed to make an impact for the Texans' return game.

It's been a long time since the Texans had a legit big-play threat as a kick or punt returner, definitely something they should keep looking for in the offseason. 

Coaching: C-

Did Bill O'Brien fall asleep on the field just before the touchdown to Gronkowski right before halftime?

They've only been running that exact play for four or five years now; had the Texans' coaching staff not seen it enough on tape to know how to react? When the Patriots are near the goal line and motion Gronkowski out wide, they're looking to throw a jump ball against man coverage with a fade route.

There has to be a pre-snap call that they've worked on in practice that Cushing or whoever makes the audibles can use to motion out a second defender to help cover Gronkowski and force Brady to go somewhere else with the ball.

That should have been the case, but even if they hadn't worked on that situation—which would be inexcusable—O'Brien should at least be alert enough to recognize the mismatch and use one of his two timeouts to prevent the play from happening and regroup. 

"

Bill O'Brien 'They coached better than us and they played better than us'

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 14, 2015"

Instead O'Brien took two timeouts into halftime. Coach O'Brien did a great job with his challenges in this game, but rookie mistakes like not using a first-half timeout to prevent an easy touchdown are frustrating, to say the least.

Kevin Johnson Gives Up Another Touchdown

George Bridges/Associated Press

The Houston Texans 2015 first-round pick, who gave up two touchdown passes to the Buffalo Bills last week, gave up another one to the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football.

Giving up a touchdown pass to the talented Sammy Watkins is one thing, but the touchdown allowed by Johnson in this game came against former Texans disappointment Keshawn Martin. 

"

If Keshawn Martin is going to break ankles with an outside cut, Tom Brady is gonna find him for the TD. #NEvsHOU https://t.co/T3911y0J1e

— NFL (@NFL) December 14, 2015"

The common thought by most fans and the media has been that Johnson has played pretty well and that his bad moments are just common growing pains for a rookie player.

However, the stats tell a different and, quite frankly, scary story.

Kareem Jackson had a horrible rookie season in 2010 that included five touchdowns allowed and a 111.8 QB rating on passes thrown into his coverage.

Through his first 12 games this season, Johnson had allowed a 110.9 QB rating on passes thrown into his coverage and, after this game against the Patriots, has now allowed seven touchdown passes this year.

Jackson had one of the worst rookie seasons in team history and looked like an undrafted free agent for most of that year, so seeing the stats between him and Johnson being so close is a concern. Obviously Jackson has grown into a quality player, but maybe Johnson isn't having the season we thought.

Especially when you factor in the pass rush each player had to help them out. In 2010, Connor Barwin hadn't broken out yet and the team hadn't yet drafted Watt, so Johnson has had the luxury of not having to cover for as long as Jackson did in 2010.

Derek Newton Allows About a Million Sacks

George Bridges/Associated Press

Texans right tackle Derek Newton turned a corner last season with an improved level of play uncommon from former seventh-round picks. Unfortunately for the team this week, Newton looked every bit like a seventh-round player against New England.

Newton gave up three sacks, according to Pro Football Focus, and gave Brian Hoyer no chance on way too many plays. Hoyer is a below-average quarterback, but no quarterback in the league will have success when defenders are flying past their right tackle untouched.

Coming into this game, Newton had the team's worst pass-block rating from Pro Football Focus among the four linemen who have started for most of the year and had allowed a team-high 21 quarterback hurries; those numbers obviously didn't improve after this game.

Newton received a contract extension for five years and nearly $27 million this offseason, so to say his level of play this year has been a disappointment would be a massive understatement.