Countdown To Kickoff: Texans - Patriots

The Texans head to Foxborough to challenge the Patriots today and we’re kind of hoping Bill O’Brien isn’t once again taken behind the woodshed by his former employer.

The Texans have matched up fairly well against the Patriots under OB. Belichick’s strength, however, is that his team can hang around long enough, and do just enough to stay in the game, while waiting for the opponent to make one mistake, whether it’s a botched snap, failed drive, or settling for three points instead of seven, and then go for the jugular. O’Brien’s weakness, sadly, is that far too often, his offense falters (his special teams sucks @ss, too) to the point that his defense is either on the field too long and starts to make mistakes or loses control of the game.

This game matters to OB. It’s very important that he can show himself to be an offensive mastermind, and there’s no better way to do that than by defeating the most lauded defensive-minded head coach in the NFL today. This game also matters to the Texans’ standing in the AFC South. We managed to sh!t the bed against the Jaguars, so we’re currently third in what is regularly deemed the worst division in the league (the Colts, who are missing their starting quarterback, are the only team currently faring worse than us).

Well, today is yet another day in the Texans-Patriots rivalry. We’d love for the good guys to win this afternoon, but what else are you thinking about this fine morning? This is your Countdown to Kickoff thread. Chill here until the first quarter open thread is available at 11:45 a.m. Inactives will post around 10:30 a.m.