MNF: The Boston Meat Party: The Pats Gorge on Tex-Mess

The Patriots quickly and emphatically let everyone know who the class of the AFC still is.  The Texans took a shot from the Patriots and walked out stumbling to a 42-14 defeat, and the game wasn’t even that close.  The Texans may be tied for the best record in the NFL, but the league was served notice over who is still the team to beat. The Patriots didn’t waste any time in getting started, as they scored a touchdown on their first possession.  The drive included Wes Welker who caught a pass for the 107th game in a row, and Brady throwing a touchdown for the 45th game in a row.  The Texans would try to make a game out of it, but quarterback Matt Schaub would throw an interception in the Patriots end zone, helping the onslaught ignite.  The Patriots would score on their next two offensive drives as well, making it 21-0 before the Texans got the ball in the second quarter. Tom Brady completed 21-35 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns.  Aaron Hernandez caught two touchdown passes, as Brandon Lloyd and the newly signed Donte Stallworth also would find the end zone.  Lloyd would also recover a fumble for a score, and Stevan Ridley would run one in as well. The Patriots were able to hold Arian Foster to 15 carries for 46 yards (a 3.1 yard per carry average), and one touchdown run.  Schaub would be held to 232 yards, not finding the end zone all day, while being intercepted in the end zone once.  The game was epitomized when JJ Watt, a DPOY candidate who was mostly invisible today, would force a fumble, only for Brandon Lloyd to pick the ball up in the end zone. The Texans are going to have to regroup quickly, as they face off with the Indianapolis Colts next week, in a game that suddenly has AFC South implications, with the Colts at 9-4, trailing the Texans by two games.  These two teams also meet the last week of the season.  While the Texans have already clinched a playoff berth, what was once considered a given, that the AFC playoffs would go through Texas, is no longer certain, with the Patriots and Broncos only a game behind the Texans, and their division being the last one in the AFC yet to be determined.  A win against the Colts next week and at least some of what ails them will be answered, as they would have wrapped up the AFC South. The New England Patriots had circled this part of the schedule, knowing that the Texans and San Francisco 49ers on a short week would be their biggest test of the regular season.  Before tonight, the Patriots had been devoid of a big win.  Many people seemed to harbor on this, instead of some other facts, such as that the Patriots are now winners of seven straight, and nice out of ten.  Or that they lead the league in scoring with 35.8 ppg.  The Patriots have also lost their three games by a combined four points this season, and since 2010, the Patriots are 21-0 in the second half of the season.  People like to fixate on what they deem to be the changing of the guard, but the New England Patriots showed on Monday Night Football, that’s not the case this season.  The rest of the league has been served notice… The post MNF: The Boston Meat Party: The Pats Gorge on Tex-Mess appeared first on Bay Area Sports Nut.