Punter Ken Walter injured his foot and was placed on the Injured Reserve list thus ending his season.  Sean Landeta worked out for the Patriots on Tuesday, but he was not signed yet.

The Patriots defense was awesome, the special teams were also great and the offense was efficient.  Tom Brady managed the game well as he completed 16 of 23 passes for 109 yards and 2 TDs.  Corey Dillon carried the ball 20 times for 61 yards (3.1 ypc) and he caught 5 passes for 20 yards.  Heath Evans added 8 carries for 24 yards (3.0 ypc).  Kevin Faulk played really well in his limited touches.  Faulk carried the ball 4 times for 22 yards (5.5 ypc) and a TD.  He also caught 2 passes for 46 yards and a TD.  Reche Caldwell caught 6 passes for 25 yards.  Jabar Gaffney caught one pass and it was a 6 yard TD pass.

The Patriots defense played great today.  Tedy Bruschi led the way for the Patriots with 10 tackles.  DE Tully Banta-Cain had a great game with 6 tackles, 2 sacks and a forced fumble.  Asante Samuel had a good game too with 5 tackles and an interception.  Ellis Hobbs was fantastic today as he made 3 tackles, intercepted a pass and returned a kick-off 93 yards for a TD.  The Texans ran the ball 22 times for 105 yards (4.8 ypc).  The Texans only completed 16 of 28 passes for 93 net yards passing and the Pats picked off 4 passes.

The Patriots improved to 10-4 on the season with this dominant effort.

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.

Not so long ago it seemed as if Tedy Burschi’s career was over after he suffered a stroke, but he’s returned with a vengeance!  He has been making big plays like he never missed a game.  Bruschi has 91 tackles, 1.5 sacks, an interception and he’s defended 4 passes.

Mike Vrabel has also been outstanding again.  He’s been great since Belichick snapped him up from the Steelers…who didn’t use him right.  Vrabel has 80 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 3 interceptions so far this season.

These two guys + Rodney Harrison are the heart of the Patriots defense.

Doug Gabriel was cut loose for a couple of reasons.  He wasn’t a hard worker and the Pats needed a roster spot because of all of the injuries that piled up on the team lately.  Gabriel played in 12 games (5 starts) and caught 25 passes for 344 yards (13.8 avg) and 3 TDs.