The real story behind Tom Brady's snub of J.J. Watt

It had been a tough couple of weeks for the New England Patriots with injuries bogging them down. Hoyer was injured on the play and...

The New England Patriots avoided their first three-game losing streak since 2002 when it defeated the Houston Texans 27-6 Sunday night at NRG Stadium. Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt (99) celebrates a stop against the New England Patriots during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, in Houston. With the win, and the losses by the Bengals and Broncos, the Patriots are back in the top seed spot in the AFC, a critical development for them not just because they are virtually unbeatable in the playoffs in Foxborough, but because they will need the first-round bye to allow their ever-lengthening injury list to heal.

The first 911 caller reported seeing a black man walking down a street shooting a gun in the air.

"They were both very close", Belichick said. The defense played extremely well, and got help from Leonard Johnson, who no one had heard of before last night.

Despite the 27-6 loss, Clowney got in two sacks against Patriots' QB Tom Brady. Brady attempted a season-high 56 pass attempts and tossed two interceptions, one that was returned by the Eagles for a score. The Patriots did not move the ball as well within the 2nd half, still the defense harassed Brian Hoyer in to multiple errors.

The Patriots sacked Hoyer five times before knocking him out of the game midway through the fourth. Brady was sacked three times and hit three others - that's 11 sacks in the last four games - although at least the pace of hits was well below what it had been. "So it's acceptable when they are on the field ... they just did a incredible job".

It's of particular interest that the Broncos have yet to name a starting quarterback for that game in Pittsburgh, which will take place after the Titans-Patriots game on Sunday afternoon. New England effectively negated the Houston pass rush with a horizontal game consisting of quick passes to the sidelines.

Faced with a third-and-3 on the edge of field goal range, the Patriots running back went up and made a circus grab between two defenders, and appeared to come down inbounds for a 20-yard gain. They were able to dictate the flow of the game, and seemed ready for every little wrinkle Bill O'Brien tried to put together to confuse them. That's good news considering this defense is playing well right now and McCourty's impact and experience back in the secondary has certainly been one of the big reasons why they've been so strong this season.

Winning against the Patriots won't be easy even with all their injuries. What was a bad start to the 2015 season seemed like ancient history.

Brian Hoyer would finish with just 11-of-22 passing for 155 yards.

If he can't go, the Texans will look to Yates, who started the last time Hoyer was out and led them to a win. He completed 22 of his 30 pass attempts for 226 yards while throwing a pair of touchdown passes. The urgency was, I just wanted to be back out there with my teammates. However, it was hard to tell if White's heel really touched the chalk.

"It's something we know", J.J. Watt said.