Now is a good time to remind yourself the New England Patriots are 10-2.
Sure, it looked ugly Sunday in the Patriots’ 28-22 loss to the Houston Texans — uglier than the score indicates, even. And sure, the Patriots no longer control their own destiny for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
But the Patriots are still in better shape than almost every other NFL team, and that’s not a bad place to be.
Here’s everything that went wrong and partially right Sunday against Houston. All stats via Pro Football Focus.
PASS PROTECTION
LT Isaiah Wynn: hurry
LG Joe Thuney: two QB hits, two hurries
C Ted Karras: clean
RG Shaq Mason: hurry
RT Marcus Cannon: two sacks, hurry
C James Ferentz: two hurries
QB Tom Brady: two QB hits, hurry
— RB James White, TE Matt LaCosse, TE Ben Watson, RT Marshall Newhouse and RB Sony Michel also were clean in pass protection.
— QB Tom Brady was pressured on 27.5 percent of his dropbacks. That was slightly better from 29.7 percent on the season.
PASSING GAME
QB Tom Brady went 24-of-47 for 326 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Of Brady’s 23 incompletions, two were dropped, three were thrown away, one was batted at the line of scrimmage and one came while he was hit when throwing. He had an accuracy rate of just 61.9 percent.
That’s down from Brady’s 73.3 percent accuracy rate on the season. He ranks 23rd of 35 qualified QBs in that metric.
— LaCosse and WR Mohamed Sanu had the drops.
— Brady was 2-of-6 for 41 yards with a touchdown on deep passes.
— Brady was 3-of-10 for 24 yards with a touchdown under pressure.
— It took Brady 3.25 seconds, on average, to release the ball. That’s up from 2.6 seconds on the season.
— Jakobi Meyers and Julian Edelman each caught deep passes. They also split slot duties. Rookie N’Keal Harry didn’t line up in the slot a single time on 12 passing snaps.
— Sanu returned from injury, but Meyers actually outpaced the veteran receiver in snaps with 60 to 19. Harry had 22 snaps. Edelman and Phillip Dorsett had 79 and 61, respectively.
RUSHING ATTACK
James White: 2.29 yards after contact per carry, two forced missed tackles
Rex Burkhead: 2 yards after contact per carry, zero forced missed tackles
Sony Michel: 1.9 yards after contact per carry, zero forced missed tackles
— White carried the ball 14 times for 79 yards.
— Michel ran well early in the game then saw his touches drop off dramatically. He wound up with 10 carries for 45 yards.
— Burkhead played just four total snaps. He carried the ball three times and was targeted on his other snap.
PASS COVERAGE
CB Jonathan Jones: three catches on five targets, 61 yards, TD, two PBUs
CB Stephon Gilmore: 4-5, 47 yards
S Patrick Chung: 3-4, 44 yards
LB Ja’Whaun Bentley: 3-3, 24 yards
LB Dont’a Hightower: 2-3, 21 yards, TD
FS Devin McCourty: 1-1, 15 yards
LB Kyle Van Noy: 1-1, 14 yards, TD
LB Jamie Collins: 1-1, 8 yards
CB JC Jackson: 1-2, 6 yards, TD
— PFF charged Jackson with the touchdown on the Texans’ trick play when wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins flipped the ball to QB DeShaun Watson. That’s tough, because it’s technically the first TD Jackson allowed all season.
— Gilmore fared pretty well against Hopkins, who had five catches on six targets for 64 yards overall. Gilmore did let up two catches for 37 yards on the Texans’ fourth-quarter drive that culminated with their fourth touchdown.
— Patriots linebackers struggled at times covering Texans running backs and tight ends.
PASS RUSH
LB Dont’a Hightower: sack, two hurries
LB Kyle Van Noy: sack, two hurries
DT Lawrence Guy: two hurries
DT Adam Butler: two hurries
LB Chase Winovich: sack
S Terrence Brooks: hurry
DE John Simon: hurry
— The Patriots were held sackless against the Dallas Cowboys last week, so they got back on the board against the Texans.
— Watson was pressured on 35.7 percent of his dropbacks. That ranked 13th out of 31 quarterbacks.
TACKLING/RUN DEFENSE
DT Lawrence Guy: five stops
LB Dont’a Hightower: three stops, missed tackle
LB Kyle Van Noy: three stops
DT Danny Shelton: two stops
LB Jamie Collins: two stops
DE Deatrich Wise: stop
CB Jonathan Jones: stop
LB Elandon Roberts: stop
LB Ja’Whaun Bentley: stop
DE John Simon: stop, missed tackle
LB Chase Winovich: stop, missed tackle
S Patrick Chung: stop, two missed tackle
CB JC Jackson: missed tackle
CB Stephon Gilmore: missed tackle
LB Shilique Calhoun: missed tackle
— The Patriots let up just 52 rushing yards on 23 carries. Carlos Hyde ran 10 times for 17 yards. Duke Johnson rushed nine times for 36 yards.
— Guy led the team with seven total tackles. That’s pretty rare for a two-gapping defensive lineman.
For more grades, advanced statistics and more at Pro Football Focus, go to ProFootballFocus.com.
