New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is back at the Belistrator and is breaking down the six key plays from the Patriots 27-0 victory over the Texans.
1. Brandon Bolden’s forced fumble on Texans kick return
Belichick highlights the awareness of Duron Harmon to come across the formation to recover the fumble.
2. Jacoby Brissett’s touchdown run
“The Texans are in a five man line here, with the linebackers kind of matched on the receivers and playing man to man coverage, and a middle of the field safety, so when LeGarrettte flows over the top, that kind of ties up Bullough and that gets Jacoby to the edge, and the only guy here to beat really is the end. Shaq Mason does a nice job of cutting him down. And then Jacoby is to the edge here and Malcolm comes back and makes a good block and Jacoby cuts it back for the score.”
Belichick spends some time highlighting the post-score celebration, too, which is always nice.
3. Jamie Collins’ interception
“What happens on this, is they’re trying to run a little what we call shake route with the tight end to occupy Jamie, and this is actually Hopkins running the in cut on the backside, who is obviously their go to receiver, so Jamie does an excellent job here of not really getting too tied up on the tight end route, reading Osweiler, getting a good break on the ball, and of course making a good interception there.”
4. Jabaal Sheard’s sack
Belichick notes that Sheard gets good pressure to force Osweiler to step up in the pocket, while the other defensive linemen do a good job of containing the pocket so Osweiler has nowhere to go. The coverage is excellent, so Osweiler has to step back to try and scramble and runs right into Sheard.
5. Danny Amendola’s punt return
Amendola splits the gunners to pick up 10 yards and sets the Patriots up on the Texans side of the field.
6. LeGarrette Blount’s huge touchdown run
“This is the weakside zone play, so this is LeGarrette running behind Develin and Solder out here, and I think one of the keys on this play is LeGarrette breaking the arm tackle there at the line of scrimmage, and then the downfield blocking by Hogan and Edeman and you can see the job these two are doing on the secondary on Demps and Jackson here.”