Official Texans @ Patriots Playoff Game Thread, 1/14/2017

[Arky]

The 10-7 Texans are off to Foxboro this Saturday night for a divisional round playoff game with the 14-2 New England Patriots. The Texans won their Wild Card round game last week defeating the Oakland Raiders 27-14 while the Patriots, the #1 seed, were on a bye. The Texans will have their work cut out for them as the Patriots are the odds on favorite (33:20) to win the Super Bowl and the Texans are the least favored to win the Super Bowl (80:1).

Pats QB Tom Brady is in MVP talk and has had an excellent year - 3554 yards, 67.4% completion, 28 TDs and 2 INT's in just 12 games. His favorite targets are Julian Edelman (98/1106, 11.3 avg), TE Martellus Bennett (55/701, 12.7 avg) and Chris Hogan (38/680, 17.9 avg). Legarrette Blount (299/1161, 3.9 avg) heads the rushing attack although Dion Lewis (64/283, 4.4 avg) and James White (39/166, 4.3 avg) might see some carries. On the other side of the ball, the Pats defense finished #1 in pts. allowed/game with just 15.6. There were 8th in yds/game with 326.4. That breaks down to 3rd stopping the run (88.6 yds/game) and 12th limiting teams to 237.9 passing yds/game.

The Texan defense has been building momentum as of late and may represent the only chance of the Texans winning. If they don't dominate, it could be a long night....

These two teams met in Week 3 in Foxboro with the Pats winning 27-0 on TNF.

Texans have been given a 15% chance of advancing to the AFC Championship game.

Texans are 2-6 (2-6 ATS) on the road; Patriots are 6-2 (6-2 ATS) at home.

Gametime temps expected to be just below freezing with a 0% chance of precipitation.

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TV = CBS (channel 11 local), 7:15 pm CST, Saturday, 1/14/2017

Announcers = Jim Nantz, Phil Simms

The line = Patriots by 15 to 16½

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Other playoff action:

FOX (Saturday) - Seattle @ Atlanta, 3:35pm CST

NBC (Sunday) - Pittsburgh @ Kansas City, 12:05pm CST

FOX (Sunday) - Green Bay @ Dallas, 3:40pm CST