The Patriots are fresh off of a bye week and are going into their first playoff game of the season against the Houston Texans. The Patriots are the favorite and are predicted to blow out the Texans after beating them in week 3 with back up quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. In this game, Tom Brady will be starting and the Patriots will have their wide receiver Danny Amendola back after an ankle injury, which will be a great help against the Texans. However, the Patriots may have an issue with LeGarrette Blount. He missed practice on Wednesday due to illness but was seen at the facility. He leads the Patriots with 1,161 yards on 299 carries and is a great contributing factor to their offense. Wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell is also limited due to his knee injury. He has stepped up and played great for the team especially after Gronkowski’s departure due to injury. New addition to the team Michael Floyd and veteran Julian Edelman are both healthy and ready to play on the Patriots offense Sunday.

The Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler looked good against the Raiders defense and gained confidence after the win. Osweiler has previously been benched throughout the season, but he looked pretty good on Sunday. The Texans will need to step up after beating an injured Raiders team who lost their star quarterback Derek Carr due to a leg injury. Facing the Patriots offense should be more difficult for the Texans who also lost J.J. Watt earlier in the season due to injury. Osweiler will need to watch out for the Patriots defense and remember he has DeAndre Hopkins, who is a major offensive weapon. The Patriots rank best in the league for a scoring defense with 15.6 points per game. Malcolm Butler has four interceptions on the season and should be watched by Osweiler in this game along with the rest of New England’s cornerbacks and safteys.

The matchup between Hopkins and Butler should be particularly interesting.

The defense of the Texans was very impressive against the Raiders, but will be facing a bigger challenge against veteran Tom Brady and the outstanding offense. Even with Gronk’s absence tight end Martellus Bennett has seven touchdowns on the season. Wide receiver Chris Hogan who is a new addition to the team this year has received a number of long passes and has 680 yards on the season and four touchdowns. Full back James Develin does an excellent job of blocking and creating holes for the running backs and wide receivers. He also contributes to the offense by catching short passes from Tom Brady. Jadeveon Clowney of the Texans has 7.5 sacks on the season and is a serious threat to the Patriots offensive line and Tom Brady. He has done an excellent job on defense along with Benardrick McKinney who has five sacks. The Patriots Dont’a Hightower does an excellent job on defense and always puts pressure on the quarterback and makes great tackles. Trey Flowers does an excellent job and has seven sacks as well as Chris Long and Rob Ninkovich who have four, and Jabaal Sheard with five.

The game Sunday should be very interesting. Will the underdog Texans rise up and beat the number one seed Patriots? Will the Patriots continue their dynasty and win another playoff game with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick duo? Watch the game Sunday January 14th at 8:15pm on CBS.