Patriots stock up, stock down after Week 5 win over Texans: Hunter Henry on the rise, J.C. Jackson struggles

For a minute, it regarded just like the Patriots‘ season was going to come back to a crashing finish within the type of a loss to the lowly Houston Texans that will convey them to a 1-4 report on the 12 months. Nonetheless, New England was capable of rally after trailing 22-9 at one level within the third quarter and go on a 16-0 run to earn the 25-22 win. Naturally, there have been a whole lot of issues that the Patriots did poorly that obtained them into such an enormous gap towards what’s broadly thought-about to be an inferior workforce. On the flip facet, there are some positives that we will take away from the comeback, too. 

Beneath, we will dive into the nice, the dangerous, and the ugly from that win and see which manner a lot of Patriots gamers are trending as they depart Week 5 and now look in direction of a Week 6 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. 

Do not look now, however Hunter Henry is beginning to warmth up a bit. Over the past two weeks, Henry has been capable of finding his manner into the top zone and Sunday’s win proved to be the perfect statistical outing of his Patriots profession. Henry was focused by Mac Jones a team-high eight instances and hauled in six receptions for 75 yards, which included a 13-yard landing that evened the rating up at 22. Whereas it has taken Henry a while to actually be an impactful piece on this New England offense, he has been a dependable outlet for Jones from the bounce, catching 20 of his 26 targets on the 12 months. This mixture ought to solely get stronger because the season goes alongside and each gamers get extra snug throughout the offense. 

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Harris obtained into the top zone on New England’s first offensive possession of the day, however then coughed the ball up on what would have been his second landing of the afternoon on the Patriots’ second drive. Proper as Harris was about to cross the aim line, he allowed the ball to be punched out of his arms and it was ultimately recovered by the Texans. 

This is not the primary time Harris has fumbled in a crucial second as he additionally put the ball on the bottom again in Week 1 because the Patriots have been deep in the red zone and in search of a game-winning landing towards the Dolphins. If these kinds of turnovers proceed, it’s going to drastically harm Harris’ possibilities of actually changing into a bell-cow again for Invoice Belichick. 

Nick People has been an underrated piece for the Patriots for fairly some time. Whereas he did miss an additional level early on this recreation, he was nails when lining up for area objectives. People hit all 4 of his makes an attempt, two being from 52 yards out. He accounted for 13 factors within the win, together with the game-winning area aim he hit with 15 seconds left on the clock. 

This season, People has hit 93.3% of his area objectives and leads the NFL in area objectives made (14). 

It has not been a terrific few weeks for J.C. Jackson. Towards the Texans, the Patriots nook was focused seven instances and his receiver caught 4 of these passes for 90 yards and a landing. Jackson additionally had a go interference known as on him within the midst of Houston’s opening drive that will have positioned the Texans in a fourth-and-8 scenario. As a substitute, they moved the ball to the Houston 43 yard line, the drive continued and so they ultimately went up 6-0. He was additionally flagged for defensive holding. 

This efficiency comes after Tom Brady focused Jackson 11 instances of their primetime matchup final week the place the quarterback related on six passes for 64 yards. 

With Stephon Gilmore now in Carolina, Jackson might want to step up and actually play like a No. 1 nook. 

It looks as if we put Matt Judon on this record each week, nevertheless it’s for good purpose. The linebacker was instrumental within the Patriots with the ability to pull out the win over Houston as he continually utilized stress on rookie Davis Mills. 

At one level, Judon utterly took over the sport. Following Damien Harris’ fumble, the Texans have been capable of drive the size of the sphere to the Patriots 2 yard line. It was in that space of the sphere the place Judon recorded two sacks inside a three-play stretch that backed the Houston offense up and compelled them to accept a area aim. 

Inventory down: Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo

Whereas the Patriots haven’t got a defensive coordinator, it is broadly identified that exterior linebackers coach Steve Belichick and inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo share defensive play-calling duties. With that in thoughts, it was a tough day for the Patriots protection, which ought to fall on their shoulders. 

Whereas they might not have regarded prefer it on Sunday, the Texans aren’t any offensive juggernaut and should not be perceived to be one. Regardless of that, New England’s protection allowed rookie Davis Mills to finish 21 of his 29 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns. That comes after Mills threw for simply 87 yards and 4 interceptions towards the Bills in Week 4. 

Houston’s 18-play opening drive that lasted 10:06 and resulted in a landing additionally advised they two had zero solutions proper out of the gate.