We spoke with SB Nation’s Texans blog about the Patriots’ Week 6 opponent.
The New England Patriots and Houston Texans find themselves as mirror images heading into Week 6. Whereas rookie Drake Maye will make his starting debut for a 1-4 Patriots team, the Texans will visit Gillette Stadium the proud owners of a 4-1 record.
To get a better understanding of what Houston brings to the matchup, though, we exchanged questions with Scott Barzilla of Pats Pulpit’s sister site Battle Red Blog — the SB Nation community for all things Texans.
Here are our answers to Scott’s questions, and here is what he told us about the upcoming game.
1. Does C.J. Stroud have any weaknesses the Patriots can exploit? How can they make him play one-handed?
He struggles with pressure up the middle. I suppose you could say that about any quarterback, but pressure up the middle has forced him into some bad throws and he is on pace to have more INTs than he had last year. In a league full of athletic quarterbacks he is athletically average. He can make some plays with his feet, but he certainly isn’t on the level of Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, or Jalen Hurts. So, you can apply pressure. He has shown an ability to make off-schedule throws this year that wasn’t necessarily there last season, so you still need to be disciplined with your pass rush, but he isn’t going to gash you with yards with his feet. If you keep him in the pocket he can still burn you, but you have a much better chance of forcing him into a mistake.
2. How have HC DeMeco Ryans and GM Nick Caserio helped change the future in Houston?
I think it is has been a great partnership primarily because both have suppressed their egots and realized that the other is here for the long haul. So, Caserio scouts the kinds of players that DeMeco is looking for and they collaborate very well. Caserio has been willing to take risks via trade, but I think working with DeMeco has made those trades more successful as a general rule. In particular, every rookie that made the team has made substantive contributions already and that is because they are doing a better job of syncing the scouting with the coaching staff and style that the coaches want.
3. Who is most likely to step up in the Texans’ receiving corps with Nico Collins out?
I am looking for some Tank Dell plays where they are focused at getting him out in space where he can take on corners and safeties one on one. He has taken a back set to Collins in the early going because Collins is a bigger target and slightly better at creating yards after the catch I think Stefon Diggs has been good in recent weeks, but he is not a deep threat at this point in his career and he doesn’t offer as much of the yards after the catch as Collins and Dell. Diggs is more of a move the chains kind of guy and he has been invaluable in that regard so far on the season.
4. The Texans have one of the league’s best offensive lines, but how have they looked in the run game without Joe Mixon?
Unfortunately, that is largely a myth. The Texans have invested a lot in their line, but the line is the worst unit on the team through five games and has been the biggest negative story early in the season. They have been inconsistent in the run game without Mixon and have allowed too much pressure on Stroud because of it. Last week was a better week in avoiding pre-snap penalties, but it has been a rough spot on the season. Part of it is likely that this particular group did not play together last season, but it also might just be that their particular skills are not well-matched for the scheme they want to run. In particular, your tackles are not physical mauling style tackles, so running outside zone is not likely going to be as successful as it would with different tackles. They are both amongst the highest paid at their position, so they aren’t going anywhere. The key will be developing an offense around what they actually do well.
5. Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. are a terrifying edge duo, but there aren’t any household names on the interior. Can the Patriots exploit the middle of Houston’s defense on the ground?
The Texans haven’t had nearly as many sacks as you would think with those names. In fact, the defensive tackles have probably had more sacks than the ends on the season so far. Part of that is by design. The Texans don’t sell out with reckless abandon on their blitzes and pass rush. They choke the quarterback from all sides and force him into bad throws. Josh Allen was 9 for 30 last week and I don’t remember him ever having a game that bad. I anticipate with Maye’s athleticism that they will use a similar strategy. So, they may not get to Maye more than a couple of times, but they will rush him and force him to make quick decisions.