New England Patriots links 10/11/21 - The great escape: Pats, Jones pull a win out of Houston

TEAM TALK

• Post Game Notes: Patriots at Texans. Nick Folk kicks two 52-yard field goals, longest field goals as a member of the Patriots.
• Gamebook: Full Patriots-Texans stats.
• Paul Perillo’s Game Observations: Patriots overcome adversity, then the Texans.
• Mike Dussualt picks 4 keys from the Patriots win in Houston. 1. Mac-curate start, inconsistent middle, clutch end.
• Post Game Quotes: Patriots and Texans.
• Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick - Mac Jones - Rhamondre Stevenson - Matt Judon - Hunter Henry - Jamie Collins - Nick Folk - David Andrews.
• What Went Right: Patriots complete the comeback. (1.34 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Evan Lazar tells us ten things we learned from the Patriots’ 25-22 win over the Texans. 1. Pats QB Mac Jones leads first career comeback victory.
• Zack Cox gives us his Patriots takeaways from the win. 1. Cornerback depth is a big problem.
• Mike D’Abate (PatriotMaven) Lessons-learned from week five victory: The Patriots continue to struggle in certain areas, but show some promise in a come-from-behind effort.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Quick observations from the Patriots last-minute 25-22 win over Houston: This one had U-G-L-Y written all over it.
• Alex Barth highlights the Patriots’ escaping with a win in Houston. Mac Jones finished the game 23-of-30 for 231 yards, with a touchdown and a pick. His top receiver was Hunter Henry, who in his best game with the Patriots totaled six catches for 75 yards and a score.
• Tom E. Curran considers that maybe what we’re watching is what Bill Belichick’s team is in 2021. What you see is what you get.
• Ryan Hannable offers 10 quick thoughts from Patriots’ come-from-behind win over Texans.
• Mike D’Abate (PatriotMavin) Texas-one-step in the right direction: Patriots defeat Texans 25-22.
• Ian Glendon (FullPressCoverage) Mac Jones rallies Patriots past Texans.
• Mark Daniels shares his insights after Sunday: Pats won, but there were lots of ‘ifs’.
• Steve Atkinson (Nuts&BoltsSports) Patriots squeak out a win over the Texans.
• Andy Hart says moral victories aside, the Patriots needed this ugly win.
• Mike Reiss spotlights Mac Jones’ poise: The rookie quarterback proved his mettle as New England rallied from a 22-9 second-half deficit to beat Houston in the final minute.
• Michael Hurley points out how a bloodied Mac Jones lead a game-winning drive vs. the Texans. David Andrews after the game, “Number 10, man. He’s a tough son of a gun.”
• Zack Cox shares seven thoughts on Mac Jones’ performance yesterday. 1. Jones connected on his first nine pass attempts, scattering those to six different receivers. His first incompletion came with 61 seconds remaining in the first half.
• Nick Goss points out Mac Jones is first rookie QB in Super Bowl era to have a 70+ comp pct on 30+ attempts in 4 of his first 5 career starts.
• Zack Cox lays out how the offensive line overcame unprecedented odds, playing without four starters on Sunday.
• Ryan Hannable explains why the Patriots’ offensive line loves blocking for Mac Jones.
• Zack Cox lauds Lawrence Guy’s standout play that led to the Texans’ blunderific zero-yard punt and the turning point of the game.
• Dakota Randall finds an elated Matt Judon, fired up after his team’s wild comeback victory.
• Dakota Randall relays what Nick Folk was thinking about before his game-winning field goal. Folk finished 4-for-4.
• Michael Hurley says all Houston had to do there was play decently for the final 28 minutes to come out with a victory. Alas, the Texans are the Texans. And so, they Texansed.
• Dakota Randall notes Patriots Twitter was irate over the officials ruling a fumble on Damien Harris’ TD run.
• CBS Boston picks some Ups & Downs from Sunday: Patriots bounce back from shaky start, to finish strong.
• Alex Barth picks his Patriots Ups & Downs: A tale of two halves in Texas.
• Dakota Randall picks his three Studs, three Duds from the Pats’ wild Week 5 victory: What a bizarre game.
• Andy Hart gives us his thumbs up, thumbs down: Mac Jones leads comeback win.

NATIONAL NEWS

• NFL Game Center (NFL.com) Patriots at Texans: Drives, stats, highlights. 2. New England wins ugly. Jones helped orchestrate 10 fourth-quarter points in the comeback win, but his day was nothing to celebrate.
• Miles Ruder (PFF) NFL Week 5 game recap: New England Patriots 25, Houston Texans 22. Trailing 22-9 in the third quarter, Mac Jones led the New England Patriots‘ offense to 16 unanswered points, including a game-winning field goal by Nick Folk with 17 seconds left to take down the Houston Texans on the road, 25-22.
• Charean Williams (ProFootballTalk) Patriots rally for 25-22 victory over Texans on late 21-yard field goal.
• Albert Breer (SI) Monday Morning QB: Veteran Packers have helped right the ship; and a wild, gutsy Chargers win; Plus, Brandon Staley explains his fourth-down logic, the Bills may be the NFL’s best team, Jalen Hurts had a big second half and everything from Week 5.
• Peter King (ProFootballTalk) FMIA Week 5: Bills thump Chiefs on the night it all changed in the AFC.
• Gary Gramling (SI) Week 5 Takeaways: Justin Herbert plants his flag as football’s best player, Cowboys on the run; Plus, the Steelers offense shows signs of life, lots of kicker drama and bad calls, fake fake punt disasters, Urban Meyer’s latest lowlight, and much more!
• Jason La Canfora (CBS Sports) NFL insider notes: Sam Darnold’s struggles may have Panthers mulling move for Deshaun Watson, more from Week 5.
• NFL Nation (ESPN) NFL Week 5 takeaways: What we learned, big questions for every game and future team outlooks. “This was never about style points for the Patriots. They needed a win badly, and while they played poorly for long stretches Sunday, they hung tough mentally to stay in the game and ultimately pulled it out.”
• John Breech (CBS Sports) NFL Week 5 grades. New England over Houston: Patriots B-, Texans B.
• Judy Battista (NFL.com) Seven NFL teams at risk of falling apart due to injuries, major weaknesses. Sloppy Pats escape third straight loss.
• Conor Orr (SI) Stop forcing Cowboys-Giants games on us on TV: There are too many interesting things happening around the NFL for us to be saddled with these teams in the best TV windows so often. /Amen!
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Tom Brady moves closer to all-time record number of four-, five-TD games.