Losing 42-14 to a chief competitor in the AFC will not exactly instill confidence into the Houston Texans with the postseason looming.
As Grantland’s Bill Barnwell pointed out on Tuesday, a blowout loss to a potential playoff opponent in the regular season doesn’t exactly mean all hope is lost.
However, a far more troubling trend should concern Texans fans. Tom Brady threw for 296 yards and four touchdowns in the 28-point Patriots win.
So what, right?
Is Houston the first over .500 team Brady torched? Of course not.
However, it’s another sign that Houston can’t hang with those guys.
In other words, the Texans don’t just struggle against good quarterbacks, they get torched.
Denver, New England, and Green Bay represent three potential playoff opponents, with the Packers being one of the biggest threats to win the NFC.
Along with the aforementioned big three, Detroit also possesses one of the league’s most potent passing games (ranked first in the NFL through Week 14).
All four teams faced Houston in 2012 and the results for the Texans defense were far from spectacular:
| COMP-ATT | YDS. | TD | INT | RESULT | |
| Peyton Manning | 26-52 | 330 | 2 | 0 | 31-25 W |
| Aaron Rodgers | 24-37 | 338 | 6 | 0 | 42-24 L |
| Matt Stafford | 31-61 | 441 | 2 | 0 | 34-31 W (OT) |
| Tom Brady | 21-35 | 296 | 4 | 0 | 42-14 L |
| TOTAL: | 102-185 (55%) | 1,405 | 14 | 0 |
As mentioned earlier, it’s no disgrace giving up yards to these quarterbacks. It happens.
Where Houston is running into a problem comes from the return investment of their quarterback, Matt Schaub.
While the Texans are 2-2 in those four games, Schaub’s performances versus his counterparts are a bit troubling.
| @ DEN | 17-30 | 290 | 4 | 1 |
| VS. GB | 20-33 | 232 | 0 | 2 |
| @ DET | 29-48 | 315 | 1 | 1 |
| @ NE | 19-32 | 232 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL: | 85-143 (59%) | 1,069 | 5 | 5 |
Schaub’s completion percentage is higher over that four-game stretch but everything else is significantly lacking.
Simply put, if the Texans pass defense can’t deliver or at least slow down some of the league’s better passing attacks, Schaub will need step up his game a level…or three in the playoffs.
Schaub falls into the game manager line of quarterbacks and while he has one of the league’s top running backs (Arian Foster) and top wide receivers (Andre Johnson), either the former Falcon or his defense better raise their game in January.
If not, their stay in the postseason will be a significantly short one.
Categories: Houston Texans, New England Patriots
If you noticed, Brady did something in that game he doesn’t do very often which is leave the pocket. He’s did it a bit more discreetly than the like of Rodgers and Stafford, but the key to the Texans pass rush is that is it straight up-field rather than from the edge. Once you make the Texans change their defensive strategy, they get exposed. It doesn’t even take a “elite” team to do this…don’t forget the Jaguars took this team to overtime in Houston.