New England Patriots Get A Touchdown Against Houston Texans

NFL News - December 28th, 2009 - Written by John

The two top receivers in the league face each other this week in a game that could mean the season to the Houston Texans, and little to the New England Patriots.

Only the Tennessee Titans were eliminated from the cluster of teams eligible for the final AFC Wild Card spot last week, and the Texans are still alive, albeit on life-support. Winning this weekend will likely get a whole lot easier with the Patriots wrapping up their conference last week and having little else to play for in the finale.

Among the teams who typically pull their starters after the postseason is secured, the Patriots have rarely taken part in that practice, but will be tentative underdogs anyways.

As found at BetUS sportsbook, Houston is favored to win by seven according to the Week 17 NFL Betting Odds, with an over/under of 45 1/2.

But Houston is 3-4 at home, though, and have played far better outside of Reliant Stadium.

The Texans remained in the playoff hunt heading into the final week of the season for the first time in team-history, somewhat justifying the preseason hype that they rode into the year. They got a huge road win over the Miami Dolphins last Sunday in a game that could have been the end of the line. Instead, Matt Schaub and the rest of the offense appeared motivated early on, scoring 27 unanswered points and then fending off a Miami rally to improve to 8-7.

Schaub had 286 yards and two touchdowns to finish with his eighth plus-100 rating of the year. Arian Foster stepped up in his first primary duty of the year, rushing for 97 yards and a score on 19 carries. He became the fourth-different rusher to lead the team this year after a slew of injuries banged up the backfield. Steve Slaton is out for the year with a neck stinger that created complications, and Chris Brown came down with swine flu symptoms.

The running game ranks 30th relying on Schaub more often, thus creating the inconsistencies on offense. But there is no question, when he can get the ball in Andre Johnson's hands, the points will soon follow and no one has more yards through the air. Johnson leads the NFL with 1,504 yards and is only 71 yards from tying his career high.

The same can be said about New England, who have the single-best receiving duo in the league. Although the East champs struggled through a murky stretch in the middle of the year, Randy Moss has revived himself and Wes Welker continues to be Tom Brady's most reliable pass-catcher. They won the division last week with a blowout 35-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, and have won 10 games for the seventh-straight season.

And Brady appears to be sizzling at the end of the year, throwing three touchdowns to Moss and 138 yards to Welker. He had 267 overall, which was subdued by a running game that took over at the end of the game.

Welker is second in the league in receiving for the first time in his career with 1,336 yards, and Moss isn't far behind with 1,189 yards, and the pair combine for 17 touchdowns.