Patriots return order to NFL universe, reclaim AFC lead with win

Well, that was a brief non-Patriots siesta, wasn’t it?

After a short stint in which the New England Patriots were the No. 3 seed in the AFC, the Football Gods have restored order. With losses by Cincinnati and Denver, plus a 27-6 New England victory over the Houston Texans, the Patriots have regained the top spot in the AFC. And given the loss of Cincy’s Andy Dalton and the ineffectiveness of Denver’s Brock Osweiler, those faint hopes that New England might slip out of the top spot in the conference have faded into the December air.

Patriots Tom Brady finds Martin in the back of the end zone for a TD What didn’t fade on this night was New England’s intensity. After two straight losses, the Patriots re-centered themselves and focused on doing the little things—ground game, takeaways, pass defense—that add up to a resounding victory.

The question for New England, as it has been all season, is the impact of injury. Rob Gronkowski returned for the first time since injuring his knee in Denver two weeks ago and certainly seemed ready to return to full speed, catching four passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. But New England lost running back LeGarrette Blount, among others, and once again will need to reconfigure and rework its offense to account for all the players not in the lineup.

Houston has injury problems of its own. Quarterback Brian Hoyer left the game late after sustaining a hit that required administering concussion protocol, and his return for next week against the Indianapolis Colts is in doubt. The Texans D was solid if not spectacular; Jadeveon Clowney finally started playing like a No. 1 draft pick with two sacks of Brady. But even the most brutal Ds need a quarterback on the other side of the ball, and how the Texans play that angle remains yet to be seen.

New England concludes with games against Tennessee and Miami, both of which should be every bit as winnable as this game was. Those two sandwich a Week 16 game against a suddenly motivated New York Jets team.

Houston, meanwhile, plays a critical, potentially playoff-determining game against Indianapolis before closing with Tennessee and Jacksonville.

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