It would be hard to have two more polarizing opponents than the Patriots do from last week to this week. On one hand there are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – defending Super Bowl champions with one of the greatest collections of raw talent in recent memory, led by the greatest quarterback of all time. The Patriots go from preparing for them to preparing for the Houston Texans – an organization seemingly lacking any and all direction, plagued with internal turmoil, that has spent the past two seasons parting ways with cornerstone player after cornerstone player.
Houston’s success has been relatively one-dimensional. Both offensively and defensively, there’s seemingly one player making the gears turn. If the Patriots can limit the impact of those two players they should be able to pick up a relatively easy win – offensive line issues aside.
Who do the Patriots need to focus on to get by the Texans on Sunday? Let’s take a closer look in this week’s key matchups…