I'm glad the Pats won, but it seems (just going by the boxscore; I didn't get to watch it) that it was closer than it should've been. Brady had a solid day, but nothing spectacular (threw a pick, didn't even reach 300 yards—he's my fantasy QB, so I'm a little harder on him ), and the offense really sputtered in the second half.
Brady looked sharp. The interception came on a tip at the line of scrimmage and a good catch by the honey badger. Gronk also fumbled for the first time since like 2012. And some random punt returner for the pats fumbled a punt to give them a shot to get to 20. The patriots outplayed the Texans on both sides of the ball today.
I really wasn't 100% sure what to expect. Brady was sharp -- and he also got decent protection most of the game. Gronk was pure Gronk (except for the fumble). The muff was terrible -- Pats would likely have run the clock at that point and won easily.
Protection did start breaking down in the second half and Brady made a few nice escape throws. I liked Dorsett today and they used Patterson very well -- a weapon! James White also a weapon. Rex ran well. The defense also played well -- but not sure if we were mostly seeing a rusty, recovering Watson today -- though the pass rush was impressive.
I have to keep reminding myself that they will get their second best weapon back in 3 more weeks. Patterson/ Dorsett both look decent, and for what we need them for, its gravy. The Pat's offense is deep this year. Gronk/Edelman/Hogan/Dorsett/Patterson is very interesting. That's all before you account for Michel/Burkhead/White. I'm ecstatic with the play of Trent Brown. They need him to have a decent year. But boy is he enormous (6'8, 380)
Romo (I believe) was raving about how much better our defense is this year. While I'm sure alot of this was Watson being rusty, the defensive front 7 gave the Texans fits.
Overall an encouraging day.