Patriots-Texans AFC Divisional Round Live Blog
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
Final -- Patriots 34, Texans 16
The New England Patriots are off to their sixth straight AFC Championship Game, which will be in New England next Sunday.
This wasn't pretty for a long stretch of time, but the New England defense took advantage of some bad throws by Brock Osweiler, helping the Patriots overcome their own miscues with the football. The Pats D picked off Osweiler three times in the second half.
Brady threw for 287 yards, two touchdowns and two picks, with Edelman leading the way with 137 yards on eight receptions. Dion Lewis had three touchdowns, rushing for one, catching one and returning a kick for one. That's a first in NFL postseason history.
In a classy move, Patriots fans are giving Vince Wilfork a standing ovation.
Stick with us throughout the night as we break this down, and tune in to Patriots 5th Quarter on WBZ-TV and three hours of postgame reaction and analysis on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
4th Quarter, 2:00: Blount broke off an 18-yard run on second-and-9, and the Pats can just kill the clock from here on out.
4th Quarter, 3:09: And that should just about do it, as Duron Harmon comes down with New England's third interception of the second half.
Osweiler overthrew Ryan Griffin over the middle of the field, and Harmon came down with the easy pick.
4th Quarter, 6:37 -- Patriots 34, Texans 16
Gostkowski is good from 43 yards out, and we have a three-score game.
4th Quarter, 7:08: Lewis just fumbled again, but it was picked up by Joe Thuney before any Texan could get it. That'll set up a field goal attempt by Gostkowski to make this an 18-point game.
Bill Belichick was just very animated calling for a timeout. So animated, we can't show it on our family website.
4th Quarter, 7:37: After missing one snap, Bennett is back on the field. What a boss.
4th Quarter, 7:58: Well this is no good. Martellus Bennett is down after his left knee buckled on him. It wasn't pretty, so you may not want to watch it.
Without Gronk, losing Bennett could be crushing for the offense going forward. But he did jog to the sideline, so there's some hope it's not too severe.
4th Quarter, 8:20: Brady threw a nice block on Kareem Jackson, helping spring Danny Amendola for 15 yards on a double reverse. The Pats are moving, and have the ball at the Houston 36.
4th Quarter, 10:22: The Texans' drive stalled when Malcom Brown sacked Osweiler on second down, forcing a third-and-18. It was New England's third sack of the game.
Osweiler hit Hopkins for 12 yards, but it wasn't enough and the Texans had to punt. The Pats have the ball at their own 33 when play resumes.
4th Quarter, 12:16 -- Patriots 31, Texans 16
A one-yard touchdown run by Lewis gives the Patriots some much-needed breathing room in this one. Much. Needed.
Lewis has 29 yards on 10 carries, which isn't very good. But he's found the end zone three times in three different ways, which is pretty good. He's now the first player in postseason history to run for a touchdown, catch a touchdown pass and return a kick of a touchdown in the same game.
Is anyone else exhausted from watching this one?
4th Quarter, 12:44: This game has reached bananaland status. Osweiler went looking for Hopkins over the middle, but threw too high. Logan Ryan came down with the deflection, and the Patriots will have the ball at the Houston 6.
Bananas.
4th Quarter, 13:07: Brady throws behind Edelman on third-and-7, and the Patriots are forced to punt it away. The Texans will take over at their own 11 following a fair catch by Fuller.
4th Quarter, 14:07: Dion Lewis moved the chains with quick burst, picking up 10 yards on a second-and-8 pass from Brady.
And Brady finally got the flag he's been requesting so adamantly on Clowney, with the big defensive end hit with a roughing the passer penalty on a late hit.
Pats are now in Houston territory at their 48-yard line.
4th Quarter, 14:51 --Patriots 24, Texans 16
Novak's kick is good, and the Patriots' lead is down to eight. That's 13 points for the Texans off of turnovers. Yuck.
4th Quarter, 14:55: Osweiler went deep to no one on third down, setting up a Novak 46-yard field goal attempt.
End 3rd Quarter -- Patriots 24, Texans 13
This is going to be an interesting final 15 minutes. The Texans will have the ball at the New England 32 when the final quarter gets underway, facing a third-and-4.
3rd Quarter, 00:41: Tom Brady threw two interceptions in the regular season. He's now thrown two tonight.
He went looking for Edelman over the middle, but the pass was deflected and Andre Hal came down with it at the New England 40.
3rd Quarter, 1:06: The Pats are without Hogan at the moment, as the receiver is nursing a thigh injury on the sideline.
3rd Quarter, 2:02: Osweiler went deep, and actually threw a great pass, but Fuller just dropped it in the end zone. Alligator arms for the rookie.
Huge break for the Patriots defense, who didn't look ready for the deep throw from Osweiler.
3rd Quarter, 2:07: After review, Morelli has his story straight. Incomplete pass, no penalty on the Patriots.
What a mess.
3rd Quarter, 2:07: Not quite sure what the heck is going on. Osweiler was hit on second-and-8 by Shea McClellin as he threw the ball, Patrick Chung picked it up and took it to the end zone. It looked incomplete, but no whistles were blown and the Pats pounced on it.
The Pats were hit with an illegal substitution on the play, as players from the bench went onto the field. But it appears New England has it, with their offense taking the field.
It's chaos. Pure chaos. Pete Morelli needs to catch his breath and is going to review this one. Good time to refresh your beverage.
3rd Quarter, 3:13: Vincent Valentine was hit with a 5-yard hands to the face penalty, and the Texans are in New England territory.
3rd Quarter, 3:28: Sheard went hard after Osweiler, but was pushed back by the lineman and the QB was able to scramble for 18 yards to keep the drive alive.
3rd Quarter, 3:51: With the playclock winding down, the Texans are forced to burn their first timeout.
A 19-yard connection between Osweiler and Hopkins got them out of their own end zone, but they face a third-and-5 at their own 27.
3rd Quarter, 5:56: An offensive pass interference on Michael Floyd really killed what could have been a scoring drive for the Patriots. Instead of at least three more points on the board, the Pats had to punt.
But Ryan Allen's foot and Matthew Slater's smarts have the Texans pinned at their own 2-yard line.
3rd Quarter, 6:23: Brady is livid that Clowney wasn't flagged for a late hit, as he brought him down a few steps after he threw an incomplete to Amendola. Brady is all fired up.
3rd Quarter, 6:55: The Texans might want to try and cover that Edelman guy. He just picked up 26 yards on a third-and-10 to move the chains for the Pats.
3rd Quarter, 7:19: The Pats' D has their first turnover, as McCourty makes a great read and jumps in front of an Osweiler pass for DeAndre Hopkins. Great play by the Pro Bowl safety, who was setting that up before the Texans even snapped the ball, and made a speedy break once he saw where Osweiler was going.
New England will take over at their own 44.
3rd Quarter, 9:09 -- Patriots 24, Texans 13
Tom Brady threw just one incompletion on that drive, capping it off with a 19-yard touchdown toss to James White on a wheel route. Lewis had Benardrick McKinney one-on-one on that play, and beat him bad.
The drive was surgical, covering 90 yards on nine plays. Edelman is up to 108 yards on six catches, four of which came on that drive.
Order is restored in Foxboro, for now.
3rd Quarter, 11:44: This is more like it. Brady is going to ole reliable in Edelman, who has hauled in a 26-yard catch and 14-yard catch on back-to-back plays.
They're now at the 50.
3rd Quarter, 12:37: At least the Patriots D showed up tonight. Kyle Van Noy just introduced himself to Osweiler on a third-and-3, deflecting the QB's "pass" as it left his hand.
The Pats will take over at their own 10 after a fair catch by Edelman.
3rd Quarter, 14:07: Not the start the Patriots were hoping for. Brady went incomplete to Floyd on first down, Blount picked up two yards on second down, and then Brady felt the pressure from Cushing on third and had to rush a short pass to Lewis.
Three-and-out for the Pats.
Halftime -- Patriots 17, Texans 13
The Texans must be pumped to be heading into the locker room. The Patriots, not so much.
While the New England D has played well overall, Houston took advantage of a pair of New England turnovers, adding a field goal off a Brady interception and a touchdown off Lewis' fumbled kickoff return. The Texans won the time of possession battle in the first half, 18:40 to 11:20. Both teams have six first downs, with the Pats out-gaining the Texans 156 to 123. For the Pats, it was all about the big play, with Brady connecting with Edelman for 48 yards and Hogan for 45 yards.
Brady completed eight of his 13 passes for 145 yards, hitting Lewis for a 13-yard score in the first quarter. Lewis has both New England touchdowns with a 98-yard kickoff return as well.
But then he fumbled a return a few possessions later, and the Texans have had life ever since. They made a huge goal line stand just ahead of halftime, holding the Patriots to a field goal when they were just inches away.
The Pats ran for just 19 yards in the first half.
The Patriots have the ball to start the second half, so we'll see if whatever Belichick pep talk (likely said very loudly) they get wakes them up a bit.
2nd Quarter, 00:07 -- Patriots 17, Texans 13
Gostkowski boots the 19-yard field goal, and the Patriots add a measly three points to their lead.
2nd Quarter, 00:10: It wasn't Tom Brady calling his own number, as the Pats instead go with Blount. He was stuffed by a handful of Texans, and the Patriots will have to settle for three.
What a huge stand by the Houston D.
2nd Quarter, 00:19: Brady went to James Develin on second-and-goal, and he too was just short of the goal line.
Pats take a time out, just inches away from six points.
2nd Quarter, 00:56: Brady had all the time in the world on first-and-goal, but no open receivers. So he took off, and was stopped just short of the end zone.
2nd Quarter, 2:00: A record-setting catch by Julian Edelman was a giant one. He's now New England's all-time postseason receptions leader at 70, breaking Wes Welker's mark old with a 48-yard connection to the Houston 18.
Not sure how that pass was completed with a defender all over Edelman (to be honest, he got away with a bit of a push), but we'll take it.
2nd Quarter, 3:54: This is how things are going for the Patriots tonight: Matthew Slater was flagged for an illegal block on the ensuing punt, costing the Pats 10 yards on the return.
Pats will take over at their own 34.
2nd Quarter, 4:05: After running twice and picking up seven yards, the Texans should have stuck with that. Osweiler threw it over the middle on third down and was nearly picked by Rob Ninkovich. The QB all but gift-wrapped it for the Patriots, but they couldn't take advantage.
2nd Quarter, 5:30: Brady was sacked by Mercilus on third down, dropping the Patriots out of field goal range. The Pats offensive line was beat up the middle, mainly David Andrews.
Rather than going for a 55 yarder, Ryan Allen delivered a beaut of a punt, pinning the Texans at their own 4-yard line.
2nd Quarter, 6:55: Brady felt the all-out blitz coming, threw a duck deep to Chris Hogan, and the receiver came down with a 45 yards to the Houston 37. Huge.
2nd Quarter, 7:48: The Pats are lucky they're facing Brock Osweiler. Texans go three-and-out, with Osweiler's third down bid for Hopkins too low for Ryan to pick it off.
Osweiler also had a bad pass to Miller on first down, feeling the pressure from Patrick Chung.
2nd Quarter, 8:43: The Texans will have great field position too, with Fuller returning Ryan's punt 16 yards to the New England 49.
2nd Quarter, 9:12: Three-and-out for the Patriots offense, as Brady has to scramble and is eventually brought down by Cushing and Mercilus on third-and-5.
That's not going to get it done.
2nd Quarter, 10:43: The Pats take over at their own 17 after Lewis takes the kickoff out of the end zone.
Tom Brady has taken just six snaps in this one. A nice long scoring drive would be fantastic right now.
2nd Quarter, 10:49 -- Patriots 14, Texans 13
This one is a ballgame. The Patriots bit on the play action, and Osweiler found a wide open C.J. Fiedorowicz in the end zone for the score.
2nd Quarter, 11:29: The Patriots are really putting a lot on their defense tonight. Lewis fumbled the ensuing kickoff return, and Houston now has the ball at the New England 12. Yikes.
Pete Morelli originally signaled that the Patriots recovered, but that was not the case.
2nd Quarter, 11:36 -- Patriots 14, Texans 6
Houston gets three off of the interception. A screen to Akeem Hunt picked up 14 yards on third-and-16, holding the Texans to just those three points. Great stand by the New England defense in a tough situation.
2nd Quarter, 11:53: As the Texans line up for a 26-yard field goal, Jabaal Sheard is limping off the field for the New England defense.
2nd Quarter, 14:24: Hey, this isn't the script.
Brady and Michael Floyd couldn't connect across the middle, and A.J. Bouye was there to snag the tipped ball out of the air. The Texans take over on the New England 27 now.
Taking advantage of plays like that is the only way Houston will keep this one close.
End 1st Quarter -- Patriots 14, Texans 3
After 15 minutes, the scoreboard looks about right. It's just not how we expected the Pats to get their 14.
Brady is 3-for-3 for 41 yards and a touchdown to Dion Lewis, who has both of New England's scores -- a 13-yarder from Brady and a 98-yard kickoff return. The Pats have just 43 total yards, but a two-score lead.
1st Quarter, 1:00 -- Patriots 14, Texans 3
Well that's a grand way to answer Houston's field goal. Dion Lewis took the kickoff back 98 yards to the house, breaking a tackle and outrunning the entire Houston special teams. Larry Izzo was pretty miffed on the sidelines.
That's the first kickoff return in Patriots postseason history.
What a postseason debut for Dion Lewis, with two touchdowns already. And it's still just the first quarter.
1st Quarter, 1:15 -- Patriots 7, Texans 3
The Texans only get three, but it's three points they shouldn't have.
Nick Novak was good from 33 yards out to put Houston on the board after Rowe gave them new life with that dumb penalty.
Houston picked up three first downs after the penalty, including a third down conversion on a six-yard connection by Osweiler to C.J. Fiedorowicz. In all, it was a 14-play drive that covered 62 yards and took 8:12 off the clock.
1st Quarter, 7:22: Eric Rowe is getting a good talking-to from Bill Belichick right now.
He did the Texans a huge favor, giving them a first down they didn't earn by getting flagged for pulling a player out of a pile. That came after Hopkins made a third down catch for 10 yards that wasn't going to move the chains.
1st Quarter, 7:55: The Texans offense keeps moving backwards. Logan Ryan got to Osweiler on an outside blitz, setting up third-and-18.
1st Quarter, 8:59: Texans aren't doing themselves any favors right now. After Hopkins was flagged for an offensive PI, they now face a first-and-20 at their own 16-yard line.
1st Quarter, 9:27 -- Patriots 7, Texans 0
And there's the quick score we were looking for. After the big penalty on Bouye, Brady went right back to Hogan for 22 yards. On the next play, he threw a little screen to Dion Lewis on the left, and the back outran everyone for the 13-yard score.
Welcome to the playoffs, Dion.
Brian Cushing delivered a giant block on Martellus Bennett on the play, who was down momentarily before popping back up.
1st Quarter, 10:04: Brady went deep to Hogan on first down, and the Pats pick up 30 yards on a PI on A.J. Bouye.
1st Quarter, 10:10: Another three-and-out for the Texans, as Logan Ryan bats away Osweiler's third-and-8 bid for receiver Keith Mumphery.
Osweiler missed a wide open Will Fuller on second-and-8, after Miller picked up two yards up the middle on first down.
We're still waiting for our first first down of this one.
1st Quarter, 11:30: Just as quickly as they got the ball, the Patriots have to punt it away after a three-and-out of their own.
Brady hit Edelman for six yards on first down, and Dion Lewis ran for three on second down, but was then stuffed on third-and-1.
Big Vince and Jadeveon Clowney made the stop on Lewis, who lost the ball after he was down.
1st Quarter, 12:57: Quick three-and-out for the Texans, as Rob Ninkovich brings down Osweiler on third-and-4. Nink was being held by Chris Clark, but was able to bring Osweiler down by his foot.
Pats take over at their own 39 after a nice punt return by Edelman.
Pregame -- 8:13 p.m.: The Patriots won the coin toss, and chose to defer to the second half.
Business as usual at Gillette. Let's go!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pregame -- 8:05 p.m.: The Patriots are taking the field, as we're less than 10 minutes away from kickoff.
Vince Wilfork got a nice ovation from the crowd when showed on the jumbotron. This could be the last game of his career.
Pregame -- 7:52 p.m.: It's below freezing at Gillette, or as Patriots president Jonathan Kraft called it, perfect football weather.
"That's why we don't build domes up here in the Northeast," Kraft told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Marc Bertrand.
Kraft also briefly touched on Roger Goodell not paying a visit to Gillette, but it didn't sound like it bothered him too much.
"I'll let you ask the league office about that. I don't know how they pick where he goes," said Kraft. "They don't call the teams; that's not the way it works. I think the league office determines where he goes."
Pregame -- 7:49 p.m.: We're inching closer and closer to kickoff, and one local sports star has a great view of everything on the field right now.
Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas is in the house, sporting his new Tom Brady jersey:
Pregame -- 7:33 p.m.: While Vegas may love the Patriots -- a lot -- the Patriots are still talking up the Texans.
Bill Belichick just called the Texans "the best team we've played" during his pregame interview with Scott Zolak on 98.5 The Sports Hub. He also said their Week 3 win over Houston is irrelevant tonight.
While fans may not be giving the Texans much credit this week, the Patriots certainly have.
Listen to Belichick's pregame interview here:
Pregame -- 7:25 p.m.: Tom Brady has introduced himself.
Pregame -- 7:21 p.m: As expected, Danny Amendola is back taking punts during warmups. Julian Edelman is also back there, just in case...
Patrick Chung, Dion Lewis and James White are back returning kickoffs.
Pregame -- 7:01 p.m.: Sorry to disappoint everyone (and I mean everyone), but there will be no J.J. Watt working out before this one. Or sneaking his way into every shot of the Texans sideline.
Like Roger Goodell, he did not make the trip to Gillette. Bummer.
Pregame -- 6:50 p.m.: One very notable inactive for the Texans is safety Quintin Demps, who led NFL safeties with six interceptions during the regular season. He suffered a hamstring injury in the first half of last week's Wild Card win over the Raiders, and did not return.
That vaunted Texans secondary just got a little less vaunted.
Houston will also be without outside linebacker John Simon, who had 51 combined tackles and 3.5 sacks during the regular season.
Pregame -- 6:45 p.m.: Malcolm Mitchell is officially inactive for this one, along with rookie corner Cyrus Jones.
With Mitchell out, newcomer Michael Floyd should see plenty of targets this evening. And without Jones in the secondary, that means the Pats will have just four cornerbacks active: Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, Eric Rowe and Jonathan Jones
Meanwhile, Danny Amendola is on the field warming up. This is the first time he's been active for a game since December 4.
Pregame -- 6:30 p.m.: Malcolm Mitchell is out according to multiple reports (inactives will be released around 6:45 p.m., so we'll know for sure at that point), but The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe is reporting that Mitchell should be good to go next week should the Patriots advance.
Mitchell is still dealing with a knee injury that he suffered in Week 16 against the Jets, and this will be the second straight game he's missed.
But Danny Amendola is back tonight, and will likely be back returning punts for the Patriots.
Pregame -- 6:15 p.m.: Finally, a football game.
The postseason has arrived at Gillette Stadium, as the top-seeded Patriots will host the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round. New England has won their last five Divisional Round games, and have suffered just three postseason losses on the Gillette Stadium field.
The Patriots are heavy favorites in this one with some places giving them as many as 17 points, and for good reason. New England beat up on the Texans 27-0 back in Week 3 in Foxboro, when Jacoby Brissett was taking snaps at quarterback. The New England defense has molded into shape and are even better now, finishing the top team in the NFL in terms of points allowed, and they just so happen to have some guy named Tom Brady under center this time around.
This will be Brady's 32nd career playoff game, which is just incredible. He's essentially played two extra seasons throughout his career. He's pretty good against just about everyone, but he's been even better against the Texans in Foxboro, tossing nine touchdowns and no interceptions in their three match ups. The Texans may have the top defense in terms of yards allowed, but Brady and company should be able to put up some points tonight.
The Texans have also never won a road playoff game, and they've never won at Gillette Stadium in four tries.
With a victory tonight, the Pats will be off to their sixth straight AFC Championship game, which would be a new NFL record. It would also be their 30th postseason win in franchise history, joining the Cowboys, Packers, Steelers and 49ers as the only NFL franchises to hit that mark.
So sit back, relax and countdown to kickoff with us, and stick around for all the updates throughout the game and plenty of analysis and reaction after. You can see all the action on WBZ-TV and hear it on 98.5 The Sports Hub -- the flagship stations of the Patriots -- with full postgame shows on both stations when the clock hits zero.
