The Houston Texans are coming off a tough OT loss to the Tennessee Titans and stand at 4-9 on the season.  The New England Patriots got shut out 21-0 by the Miami Dolphins last week and sit at 9-4 on the season.

The Texans have been running well of late and will try to again against the stingy run defense of the Patriots.  The Patriots are only allowing 86.4 yards rushing and 3.5 yards per carry so far this season.  If the Texans can establish a running game, that would slow the Patriots pass rush a bit and give David Carr some time to make some plays.  He has thrown the ball well when given time as he has completed 69.4% of his passes this season.  An interesting match-up will be Andre Johnson (92 rec, 1,059 yards) against New England CB Asante Samuel who has 7 interceptions this season.  It’s possible that Eric Moulds and Owen Daniels will be a bigger part of the game plan this week.

The Patriots will probably come out running the football with Corey Dillon (654 yards rushing, 10 TDs) against the soft run defense of the Texans that is allowing 123.8 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry.  After the Patriots establish that, look for Tom Brady to spread out his receivers and try to slice up the Texans secondary which is allowing 225.8 net yards passing per game.

The Patriots should win this game with ease in the cold of Foxboro.