Houston Texans Come Through, Beat New England Patriots Late

NFL News - January 3rd, 2010 - Written by John

It was as back and fourth as the Houston Texans' season itself.

After falling behind 27-13 on Darius Butler's 91-yard interception return, Houston rallied for 21 unanswered points in a whirlwind fourth quarter to beat the New England Patriots 34-27 on Sunday. It is likely the franchise's biggest win ever, and momentarily keeps it's hopes for making it to the 2009 NFL Playoffs alive.

Now, the Texans will need a loss by either the New York Jets or Baltimore Ravens in the afternoon to make the postseason for the first time in franchise history.

Arian Foster had the game tying and winning scores, scoring twice within five minutes to seal it. In his second-career start, Foster was clearly the difference in the game, gaining 119 yards on 20 carries, only the second Houston runner to top the century mark this season.

Matt Schaub engineered the rally with 303 yards and two scores, and finished with a rating of 92.1. He spread the ball out to seven receivers, three of which had at least 65 yards.

But the game began on a sour note when Wes Welker was a gleaming example, and testament, to why teams choose to bench their starters after securing a playoff spot. Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Caldwell was roasted by fans when he took his starters out of last week's game against the New York Jets for safety reasons, but he would've been hammered worse if something bad had happened to a star.

That heat will certainly fall upon the shoulders of New England coach Bill Belichick after Wes Welker went down with an apparent knee injury just three plays into the game. The NFL's leading wideout caught a pass down the middle and attempted to juke a defender upfield. But his left knee gave out as he made a cut, and was in agony as trainers took him off the field.

He had a towel on his head as the trainers helped him on a cart, and he was taken into the locker room. It turned out to be a far less disastrous injury for the Patriots, considering Julian Edelman filled in with 10 catches for 103 yards.

But New England already had it's share of bad news heading into the game when it was reported by CBS Sports that Tom Brady was playing with three broken ribs. He was taken out of the game briefly, but was back in for the third quarter.

Brady only finished the day with 186 yards, and didn't find the end zone once.