Biggest Takeaways from New England Patriots' Week 14 Win

The New England Patriots finally got back in the win column with a 27-6 win over the Houston Texans Sunday night.

Wait. Finally? Is that the right word? A two-game losing streak in New England is discussed with the same grave undertones as losing streaks twice as long in other football cities. Patriots fans have it good. Suffering back-to-back losses is a sky-is-falling scenario in New England. Anywhere else, it's par for the course. 

So, the Patriots' march to an undefeated season is officially over, but the path to postseason glory is still paved and straight. At 11-2, they are once again the No. 1 team in the AFC, and their margin for error has grown a little on their path to securing one of the conference's top two seeds. 

That margin for error grows as the Patriots are starting to get healthier, but another week brings more key injuries to an already depleted roster. 

Those are among the biggest takeaways from this week's win.

Rob Gronkowski's Impact Is Immeasurable

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What do you know? Rob Gronkowski returned to the lineup, and the Patriots offense suddenly, magically got right back on track.

Gronkowski put up four receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown against the Texans Sunday night, bringing his touchdown total to the double-digit mark for the fifth time in the past six years. He is one of just 10 players with five seasons of 10 touchdown receptions or more in NFL history. At 26 years old, that's quite the feat with so much football left ahead of him.

Not only does he reel in just about every pass thrown his way, but he is also a magnet for double coverage and helps open up the rest of the field for his teammates. Not to mention, at 6'6" and 265 pounds, he's quite the physical blocker in the running game.

The Patriots have lost a lot of key players this year already, but one player they probably couldn't afford to lose is Gronkowski. With him at (or even close to) 100 percent, the Patriots offense should continue to chug along right through the playoffs.

The Injuries Continue to Mount

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If it's another week in the 2015 NFL season, that means the Patriots must have suffered another high-profile injury.

This week, the injury bug claimed safety Devin McCourty (ankle), defensive tackle Dominique Easley (thigh) and running back LeGarrette Blount (hip). Neither McCourty nor Blount returned to the game Sunday, and while there's no report on the severity of Blount's injury, the early diagnosis is that McCourty won't miss the playoffs, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Easley shouldn't miss more than a game, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. 

The Patriots finally seem to be getting healthier, with tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Julian Edelman and linebacker Dont'a Hightower all returning to practice last week, but on Sunday, it appeared the team took one step forward (the return of Gronkowski) and three steps back in the health department.

Fortunately, Edelman and Hightower should both be healthy in time for the playoffs, and if McCourty, Easley and Blount aren't seriously injured, the Patriots should be as close to full health as is reasonably possible in time for the playoffs.

The Defense Is Playing at an Elite Level

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Early in the season, the Patriots offense was lighting up the scoreboard and the team was undefeated. The media was quick to cast aspersions on the offense when that unit started to slow down, but as slow as the Patriots offense was moving at times, the opponent's offense was moving even slower. That's because the Patriots defense has answered the bell to help carry the team to victories even when the offense has underperformed.

The Patriots got solid performances on the offensive side of the ball Sunday, but that didn't stop the defense from turning in its own standout performance. The Patriots totaled six sacks as a team and held the Texans to just 189 total yards of offense and 3-of-14 on third down.

The front seven performed well, with the aforementioned six sacks as well as allowing just 87 yards on 22 rush attempts, but the coverage unit played just as admirably. The secondary held the Texans quarterbacks to just 50 percent completions, with Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan and Leonard Johnson breaking up passes left and right.

If the defense continues to play at this level, then the offense will have more wiggle room than it's had in quite some time.

The Running Game Can Deliver When It Has to

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The Patriots' running game has been one of the least productive in the league this season. They rank in the bottom 10 in the NFL in rushing attempts, rushing yards and yards per carry, although they rank fifth in rushing touchdowns—they sure know how to punch it into the end zone after Tom Brady has sliced and diced the opposing defense to shreds on the way to the goal line.

But against the Texans, the Patriots actually got a productive day out of the running game. On 31 rush attempts, the Patriots picked up 116 yards. At just 3.7 yards per carry, the rushing attack wasn't all that efficient, but the Patriots did something that we haven't seen them do on a consistent basis in the past decade: run the ball in situations when the opponent knew they were going to run it.

The Patriots attempted to run in five third-down situations and converted four of them. They were 3-of-11 converting through the air on third down. Given the opportunity, the running game can be an important part of the offense. Of course, now the success of the running game is tied to LeGarrette Blount's health. 

The Patriots Are on Track for the No. 1 Seed

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The Patriots won, and the Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals both lost in Week 14. That means if the season ended today the Patriots would be the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. If they win all of their remaining games, they will be assured of playing at home throughout the playoffs until the Super Bowl.

With a one-game lead over the Broncos and Bengals, the Patriots still have some wiggle room, and their margin for error is only increased by the fact that the Bengals will be without quarterback Andy Dalton, who suffered a broken bone in his right thumb Sunday. The Broncos and Bengals also face off in a Week 16 contest that could essentially decide which of those two teams gets a first-round bye. 

The Patriots have just one home game left on the schedule—next week against the 3-10 Tennessee Titans, who have lost four of their last five games. After that, they travel to face the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins to close out the season. The Patriots beat both teams earlier this year, so the expectation is that they'll win both of those games as well. 

We went through seven days of talking about New England as the No. 3 seed, and in the span of 12 hours, the Broncos, Bengals and Patriots threw all that speculation out the window.