Patriots fans would have kissed you in August if you told them their team would be 2-0 heading into Week 3. The Tom Brady-less start to the 2016 season has been as successful as possible for New England ... except for the whole Jimmy-Garoppolo-injury thing.
Enter third-round draft pick Jacoby Brissett, who will make his first NFL start at quarterback Thursday night against arguably the toughest defense the Patriots have seen so far this season: the J.J. Watt-led Texans. Good luck, kid.
WEEK 3 PICKS: Straight up | Against the spread
Houston, 2-0 and first in the AFC South, has had an impressive start to the season, itself, with early returns on new quarterback Brock Osweiler prompting optimism for a growing offense to compliment the defense. In this game, Watt and fellow edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney don't care who's playing quarterback for the Pats. They're coming after him.
The one question mark heading into Thursday night's game is whether the New England QB — whether that's Brissett, Garoppolo or Julian Edelman (weird, we know) — will have star tight end Rob Gronkowski at his disposal. He's a game-time decision with a bum hamstring.
Sporting News' David Steele and Vinnie Iyer have submitted their picks for the AFC showdown at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Here are their predictions:
Patriots-Texans picks
STEELE — Texans, 26-23 : It just doesn't make sense for the Patriots to risk playing Garoppolo on a short week; one way or the other, Brissett should play a lot. It’s up in the air whether he’ll have Gronkowski making his season debut or not. To his possible benefit, the opposing defense might be as beat up as his own team is.
IYER — Texans, 23-20 : Bill Belichick can’t have one more trick up his sleeve to make old friend Bill O’Brien unhappy, too, can he? The Patriots are set up to go from super sub Garoppolo to super unknown Brissett, right before a date with Watt. The Texans will leave the letterman jackets at home and bring only their grinding defensive front seven. New England will try to play take-away with either Lamar Miller or DeAndre Hopkins, but in the end, no matter which poison it picks, it won’t have the points to match.
Patriots-Texans live stream, game info, stats
Live stream: Twitter
Kickoff time: 8:25 p.m.
TV coverage: CBS/NFL Network
