Interesting to flip back to the playoff loss to the Pats in January since not much has changed beyond the Texans having swapped QBs and adding Watt, and the Pats losing WR Edelman... which could all be significant changes although the Texans offense has proven thus far to be about as inept as it was with Osweiler. Gronk missed practice yesterday but was out there today.
Playoff Game thread, big thanks to Arky for the commentaries.
So stopping the Pats O is about not giving up PI penalties deep and covering the RBs out of the backfield. JJo is expected to play, but can't help but notice he is losing a step. The Texans will need Kareem to cover Brandin Cooks (gulp!) and hope JJo and the others can handle the rest. Then have rookie LB Cunningham use his speed to stick with the Pats RBs. The Pats knew to pick on McKinney in coverage. Don't put him in that situation again. Doing this should help keep it close.
Offensively, letting Watson audible and generally letting him play his game is going to be both a risk and an opportunity. Osweiler's picks in the playoff killed them, so hope Watson is both smart with the ball but plays with necessary swagger. The Texans won't win a shootout - heck, can they even score 20? - but they can get first downs and eat up time of possession to keep it close.
Belichick knows how to find a weakness (like McKinney in coverage) and how to take away your best weapon (Hopkins). So the gameplan BOB comes up with must account for this. Offensively, feed Foreman and dump passes to Lamar in the flat. Get Brax involved. Let Watson dictate. Defensively, keep one safety on Cooks and keep McKinney in the box. Hope Gronk is more of a decoy but double him in the redzone.
Oh, and 4 quarters of special teams coverage shouldn't be too much to ask, right? Pats had a kickoff return for a TD (98 yds) near the end of Q1 in the playoff... that would be a death blow if it happened again on Sunday.