HOUSTON — No fear. That’s the attitude the Texans will take to Foxborough, Mass., next Sunday when they face the Patriots in the AFC Divisional playoffs. It will be a chance for revenge and redemption after the Texans were embarrassed in New England on Dec. 10, losing 42-14 to the Patriots on Monday Night Football.
“They’re a great team,” said Texans running back Arian Foster after Houston’s 19-13 win over the Bengals in a wild-card game yesterday. “They have a great coach and a great quarterback. I have a lot of respect for them. But we can play ball, too. We didn’t play our best football up there. We hurt ourselves with penalties and mistakes. Anytime you give them opportunities they’ll take advantage. We’re going to play our best up there.”
That night a month ago, Texans were blown out by the Patriots, who had leads of 28-0 and 42-7. New England totaled 419 yards against a Houston defense that allowed 27 first downs. Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes, three of them coming on the Patriots’ first three possessions of the game.
“We’re going to go back and look at it and see what we need to correct,” said Texans defensive end J.J. Watt. “If we do what we did [against the Bengals], control the ball on offense, get off the field on third down on defense and force a couple of turnovers, we have a good chance at success. But that’s easier said than done.”
The Texans were 11-1 when they last headed to Foxborough. But the loss was the first of three over the final four weeks of the season, ruining their hopes of having home-field advantage through the playoffs.
“We know what it takes to win and that’s play good road football,” Texans quarterback Matt Schaub said. “We didn’t do that the last time we played up there. But we’ll be excited to go up there and play better. We’re going to have to be on our game from start to finish because they make you play 60 minutes to beat them.”
Foster, who rushed for 140 yards and a TD yesterday, was a non-factor against the Patriots, rushing for just 46 yards on 15 carries. Once the Texans got behind, they abandoned the running game, but got little accomplished in the air as Schaub completed 19 of 32 for 232 yards
“[The Patriots are] not world beaters,” cornerback Jonathan Joseph said. “But obviously they whipped us pretty good the first time. We’ll have that on our minds some.”
Last year, the Texans defeated the Bengals in the wild-card round only to lose 20-13 at Baltimore the following week.
NFL coaching carousel
A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that Andy Reid, hired Friday as the new head coach of the Chiefs, already had begun assembling his staff, and the majority of that work could be done soon.
It’s expected that Reid, who was fired Monday as Eagles head coach, will attempt to lure back many names from his best days in Philadelphia. That includes Pat Shurmur, who was fired as the Browns coach on Monday. Shurmur was an assistant with the Eagles from 1999-2008.
* Oregon’s Chip Kelly met with the Browns yesterday and could become Cleveland’s sixth coach since 1999. But reports also surfaced that the Eagles and Kelly were close to a five-year deal late last night. Kelly also met with the Bills.
* Ron Rivera, who has two years remaining on his contract, will return as the Panthers coach next season.