The scene of two of the greatest moments in New England history couldn’t wake up the floundering Patriots on Sunday.
At the site of two of their Super Bowl victories, the Patriots took a 28-22 loss to the Texans that will make it more difficult for them to compete for another one. New England (10-2) fell behind Baltimore in the race for the top seed and home field in the AFC playoffs.
Tom Brady had another frustrating game as receivers couldn’t get open. He completed 24 of 47 pass attempts for 326 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked three times and hit 12 more.
Trailing 14-3 at halftime, the Patriots got one boost when a penalty reversed a Brady interception early in the third quarter and another when Will Fuller’s 35-yard touchdown catch was overturned by replay. But on the next play, Deshaun Watson hit Kenny Stills for a 35-yard reception in the end zone that made it 21-3 with 5:41 left in the third quarter.
The Patriots finally got in the end zone with 11 seconds left in the third when Brady connected with James White from 12 yards out. New England appeared to intentionally take a delay of game after lining up for a 2-point conversion. Five-yards further back, newly signed Kai Forbath missed the extra point.
It didn’t really matter. Houston added another touchdown on the next drive when DeAndre Hopkins’ flipped a touchdown pass to Watson on a trick play to stretch the home team’s edge to 28-9 with 9:58 left.
White added his second touchdown catch with 3:42 left to make it 28-15, but the 2-point conversion and onside kick both failed. The Patriots forced another punt and scored again with 50 seconds left when Brady hit Edelman from 20 yards out to make it, 28-22. New England nearly recovered the onside kick, but came up short.
New England hosts Kansas City on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.
Forbath showed no signs of rust on his first kick this season. After the Patriots’ first drive sputtered out at Houston 5, Forbath celebrated his third day with New England by splitting the uprights with a 23-yard field goal that made it 3-0 with 7:07 left in the first quarter.
The Patriots’ defense hasn’t given up a lot of touchdowns this season, but a Brady interception forced them to defend a short field. Adding insult to Saturday’s result, Ohio State product Bradley Roby intercepted New England’s most famous Michigan alum at the 28 and returned it to the Patriots’ 6. An unsportsmanlike conduct call moved Houston back, but it didn’t matter. Three plays later, Deshaun Watson hit Duke Johnson for a 14-yard touchdown that put the home team up 7-3 with 38 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Texans covered almost the full field for their second touchdown drive. They marched 88 yards on 13 plays covering almost 7 minutes before Watson found Daniel Fells from 13 yards out to stretch Houston’s edge to 14-3 with 6:21 left in the half.