Listen Live: New England Patriots at Houston Texans [Live Audio] Sunday Night Football
Listen to play-by-play of the Sunday Night Football matchup between the New England Patriots and the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas starting with pre-game at 8:00 PM Sunday night on 105.7 The Fan! (no streaming)
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PREVIEW
Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
With their bid for a perfect season now ancient history, the New England Patriots will attempt to avoid their first three-game losing streak in 13 years when they visit the resurgent Houston Texans on Sunday night. A rash of injuries finally appeared to catch up to the Patriots in a 35-28 home loss to Philadelphia last week, marking their first back-to-back defeats since September 2012.
"We'd love to have everybody healthy," New England quarterback Tom Brady said. "I think everybody would love that. It's just not the reality at this point." The two-game skid has dropped the Patriots to the No. 3 seed in the AFC behind Cincinnati and Denver. Meanwhile, the Texans have fought back from a 1-4 start to move into a tie with Indianapolis atop the AFC South despite last week's 30-21 loss at Buffalo. Standout defensive end J.J. Watt broke his hand in practice Wednesday but said he will play Sunday.
ABOUT THE PATRIOTS (10-2): Star tight end Rob Gronkowski, who suffered a knee injury in an overtime loss at Denver on Nov. 29, practiced on a limited basis Thursday for the first time since he was hurt but his status is unclear for the Texans. Without Gronkowski and slot receiver Julian Edelman unavailable, Brady completed only 51.8 percent of his passes and had his first multiple-interception game of the season, including a 99-yard return for a touchdown in the loss to the Eagles. New England has blown 14-0 leads in consecutive weeks, although Philadelphia scored three TDs via defense and special teams.
ABOUT THE TEXANS (6-6): After surrendering a total of 35 points during a perfect 4-0 November, including six on three occasions, Houston was unable to slow Buffalo last week in permitting 187 yards rushing. Quarterback Brian Hoyer tossed three scoring passes last week - the sixth time in seven games he has multiple touchdown passes - and has an emerging superstar in DeAndre Hopkins, who has 10 touchdown receptions and is third in the league with 1,169 yards. Watt has an NFL-best 13.5 sacks for the Texans, who rank third in the league by allowing an average of 218.3 yards passing per game.
EXTRA POINTS
1. The Patriots are seeking their seventh straight AFC East title, which would tie the Los Angeles Rams (1973-79) for the longest streak in history.
2. Texans LB Whitney Mercilus has 6.5 sacks in his last seven games.
3. Patriots WR Danny Amendola has 26 receptions in his last three games.
LINE: Patriots -3.5
O/U: 45
PREDICTION: Patriots 27, Texans 20
