New England Patriots: Studs and duds from Week 11 loss to Texans

Stud: Defending the Texans run game

Another bright spot for New England against Houston in Week 11 was the Patriots’ efforts in stopping the Texans run game throughout the AFC showdown. Although Houston had success mainly through the air in the contest, New England was able to shut down the Texans on the ground with the exception of one touchdown from quarterback Deshaun Watson.

As a team, Houston finished with just 19 rush attempts for a total of 55 yards. That unit was led by Watson with six carries for 36 yards, followed by David Johnson with a team-high 10 carries with 15 yards rushing.

New England struggled in stopping Houston’s passing offense, but the Patriots did do a nice job on the ground against the Texans running attack.

Dud: Falling in a very winnable game

The ultimate negative that came out of the game on Sunday afternoon for the Patriots was the fact that they fell on the road in a very winnable game.

With the loss, not only did New England’s winning streak come to an end at two in a row, but the Patriots failed to climb back to the .500 mark on the season while further hurting their chances of trying to reach the postseason at the end of the year.

In the defeat, New England now heads into Week 12 of the regular season schedule with a record of 4-6 overall while starting to fall further behind the rest of the pack in the AFC East and AFC as a whole.

The schedule doesn’t get much easier in the near future for New England either, with the Patriots facing the Arizona Cardinals in Week 12, Los Angeles Chargers in Week 13 and Los Angeles Rams in Week 14 over the next few weeks.