Getty Mac Jones
It wasn’t pretty early, but the New England Patriots gutted out the 25-22 win over the Houston Texans on the road on Sunday.
The Patriots improved to 2-3 on the season after capturing what was a must-have win against a beatable team. Here is the immediate reaction after the Patriots came back from a 22-9 deficit with 16 unanswered points to finish the game.
Twitter Reacts to the Patriots’ Comeback Win
There was a lot of talk about the Patriots’ patchwork offensive line considering it was ravaged by injuries. According to NFL.com’s Mike Giardi, the unit gets an A. Giardi’s tweet explains his take:
That patchwork offensive line for the #Patriots gets an A. Not because they were perfect. Far from it. But Mac Jones got hit a lot less than he had been in recent weeks and the team had a running game.
Mac Jones was sacked just once on Sunday while being hit 4 times. The Texans aren’t the top pass-rushing team in the NFL, but that’s solid protection.
ESPN’s Patrick Creighton broke the result down from a Texans standpoint.
Creighton’s tweet is spot-on. The Texans mostly outplayed the Patriots, but a mind-boggling risk on fourth down in the third quarter shifted the tide in New England’s favor.
The Houston Chronicle’s Jerome Solomon took Texans head coach David Culley to task for his attempted trickery on a punt in the third quarter. Solomon had even more of a problem with Culley’s “explanation.”
Culley just confused me even more on the thought behind his horrible decision to take the late penalty against the #Patriots.
The Patriots’ Damien Harris had a rollercoaster day. He had a crucial fumble at the goal line that took a TD off the board. He also found the end zone on another drive while rushing for 58 yards. Harris’ day ended after he suffered a rib injury that Pro Football Talk’s Michael Florio believes will thrust Rhamondre Stevenson into the spotlight.
Damien Harris left with an injury today. In his absence Rhamondre Stevenson played 34% of the snaps and had 11 carries
He will be a waiver target this week
The Patriots running back group was once considered deep, but it has been ravaged by injuries to James White and now Damien Harris. Might be nice to still have Sony Michel on the roster, but he was traded last month to the Los Angeles Rams.
How did Mac Jones play? Mostly well. He was again very efficient, but he had his share of errant throws–especially when trying to go down the field. N’Keal Harry helped bail him out and prevent a would-be interception.
WHDH’s Trey Daerr and NBC Sports Boston’s Tanya Ray Fox acknowledged Harry’s timely transition of roles.
N’Keal Harry… good cornerback?
Still, there is some validity to the numbers NESN’s Zack Cox’s take on Mac Jones’ day.
Mac Jones completed 76.7 percent of his passes today. He’s been above 73 percent in four of his first five starts.
Jones engineered several scoring drives for the Patriots, but the team continued to struggle in the red zone. They came into the game ranked 31st in the NFL in Red Zone efficiency, and after posting a 2-for-5 game inside the 20 on Sunday, that probably isn’t going to change.
There were some conflicting reports on Twitter as it pertains to JC Jackson’s day. In the first half, he was routinely torched by the Texans’ Chris Moore and called for a costly defensive holding penalty. However, in the second half, he did a solid job on Brandin Cooks, limiting him to a subpar day (3 receptions for 23 yards).
Here is some of the Jackson discussion on Twitter:
JC Jackson was great today against Brandin Cooks
Davis Mills is going off and Brandin Cooks is doing nothing. Why?
JC Jackson is shadowing him and doing a nice job.
2 rec, 9 yards on 4 targets for Cooks (all vs. JCJ)
Rough half for JC Jackson #NEvsHOU
Not JC Jackson’s best half of football.
What’s Next for the Patriots?
Here is a look at the remaining schedule and results from the Patriots’ season.
New England Patriots (2-3) 2021 Regular Season Schedule
- Week 1 – Miami Dolphins 17, New England Patriots 16
- Week 2 – New England Patriots 25, New York Jets 6
- Week 3 – New Orleans Saints 28, New England Patriots 13
- Week 4 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19, New England Patriots 17
- Week 5 – New England Patriots 25, Houston Texans 22
- Week 6 – Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 pm ET – CBS – October 17
- Week 7 – New York Jets at 1pm ET – CBS – October 24
- Week 8 – at Los Angeles Chargers at 4:05 pm ET – CBS – October 31
- Week 9 – at Carolina Panthers at 1 pm ET – CBS – November 7
- Week 10 – Cleveland Browns at 1 pm ET – CBS – November 14
- Week 11 – at Atlanta Falcons at 8:20 pm ET – FOX/NFL Network/Amazon – November 18
- Week 12 – Tennessee Titans at 1 pm ET – CBS – November 28
- Week 13 – at Buffalo Bills at 8:15 pm ET – ESPN – December 6
- Week 14 – Bye Week
- Week 15 – at Indianapolis Colts Time TBA – December 18
- Week 16 – Jacksonville Jaguars at 1 pm ET – CBS – January 2
- Week 17 – at Miami Dolphins at 1 pm ET – CBS – January 9