Texans Ride High Into Foxborough
By Bryan Morry, October 10, 2024
The Patriots are throwing it back this weekend wearing their red home jerseys – the color worn by the team from 1960-1992. With the team in throwback mode, The Hall went into the same mode in examining the 2024 team’s rough start. Call this a throwback look at some of the team’s forgettable seasons.
In the last quarter century, the New England Patriots have started a season 1-4 just two other times – 2023 and 2000. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Patriots have started 1-4 or worse (0-5 in 1992) a total of 10 times, including the two forementioned since 2000.
Of those 10 seasons that started 1-4 or worse, only two began the season with a win before four straight losses followed – 1970 and 1995. The Patriots have won Week 1 and been under .500 through five games on nine occasions before this season.
So, needless to say, the start to the 2024 season is, historically speaking, one of the team’s worst. Add to that poor record the fact that the team is averaging only 12.4 points per game through five games and it’s, well, not good.
It appears, based on published reports, that the Patriots will make a change at quarterback this week. They will sit veteran Jacoby Brissett in favor of rookie first-round draft pick Drake Maye (selected 3rd overall in the 2024 NFL Draft), who will make his NFL debut against the 4-1 Houston Texans.
That change may provide the region a boost of curiosity-based excitement, but will it mean better results for New England? That’s impossible to know, obviously. But perhaps a look at this season’s other rookie first-round picks could provide a glimpse. Of the six quarterbacks drafted in the first round last spring, three have been starting since Week 1 – Chicago’s Caleb Williams, Washington’s Jayden Daniels and Denver’s Bo Nix – while Maye, Michael Penix and JJ McCarthy have been watching from the sidelines.
The results for the rookie starters, as one might expect, have been mixed in terms of overall performance, but the Bears and Broncos are 3-2 while Daniels has led the Commanders to a 4-1 record. So ready or not, Maye will be thrown into that fire.
Four other Patriots rookie first-round picks have made their quarterback debut during their first season with the club – Jim Plunket (Sept. 19, 1971 season opener), Tony Eason (Nov. 27, 1983), Drew Bledsoe (Sept. 5, 1993 season opener) and Mac Jones (Sept. 12, 2021 season opener).
Only Plunkett won his first start – a 20-6 victory over the Oakland Raiders in the first regular season game ever played at Schaefer Stadium. Eason’s inaugural start resulted in a 26-3 loss at the Jets. Bledsoe’s was a 38-14 loss at Buffalo and Jones lost, 17-16, vs. Miami at Gillette Stadium
Statistically, this is how they fared:
| QB | Comp. | Att. | Yards | TD | Int. |
| Plunkett | 6 | 15 | 127 | 2 | 1 |
| Eason | 13 | 27 | 159 | 0 | 1 |
| Bledsoe | 14 | 30 | 148 | 2 | 1 |
| Jones | 29 | 39 | 281 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 62 | 111 | 715 | 5 | 3 |
| Average | 15.5 | 27.8 | 178.8 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
For better or for worse, Maye is the starting quarterback this week against Houston when the teams meet for the 15th time. The Patriots hold an 11-3 series advantage against the Texans with all but two of those games falling in the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era.
The teams’ inaugural meeting came back in 2003 – the Texans second season in the NFL – and the Patriots escaped Houston with a 23-20 overtime win during a 14-2 Super Bowl championship season. New England is 7-0 against the Texans at Gillette Stadium, including 5-0 in the regular season. The teams last met during Mac Jones’ rookie season on Oct. 10, 2021 – a 25-22 Patriots win in Houston. The last meeting at Gillette Stadium was the 2018 season opener – a 27-20 Patriots win on Sept. 9, 2018. The last three matchups with the Texans have all been in Houston with the Texans winning two of those three games.
Houston is off to a 4-1 start, but their margin of victory in those four wins is a scant 3.75 points as all have been decided by one score. Their only loss was a 34-7 blowout to the Vikings. While their wins have been close, those games are also indicative of the team’s ability play sound situational football to win close games.
The Patriots have worn their red throwback uniforms 10 times since 1994 and are 7-3 in those games, but all three of those losses have come since 2022 after winning their first seven games in red.
The series:
- The Patriots lead the all-time series, 11-3
- The Patriots longest winning streak against the Texans is 8 games (2012-2018)
- The Texans longest winning streak against New England is 2 games (2019-2020)
- The Patriots are 7-0 at home and 4-3 on the road in the series
- The teams have played one overtime game (23-20 Patriots win on Nov. 23, 2003)
- New England has lost two of the last three vs. Houston but is 9-2 in the last 11.
- The series dates back to Nov. 23, 2003 (a 23-20 Patriots OT win in Houston)
- The Texans largest margin of victory is 7 (twice – last in a 27-20 home win on Nov. 22, 2020)
- The Patriots largest margin of victory is 33 (40-7 home win on Dec. 17, 2006)
The Patriots Set to Host Division Rival
By Bryan Morry, October 3, 2024
The Patriots return home this week after opening the season with three road games in four weeks, including the last two away from Gillette Stadium’s friendly confines. They will do so facing AFC East rival Miami for the 118th time.
The teams first met back in 1966 with the Patriots securing a 20-14 win in Miami thanks to Jim Nance’s 133 rushing yards that included a 27-yard touchdown run. Miami leads the all-time series, however, 62-55…
The Patriots Hope to Strike Gold
By Bryan Morry, September 24, 2024
The 1-2 Patriots head on the road for the third time in the first four weeks of the NFL season. That schedule occurrence has happened to New England only six other times since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 (2022, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2003, 1994).
Only once did the Patriots emerge from such a four-game season-opening stretch with a winning record – that coming back in 2011 when they opened with a 3-1 mark, including 2-1 on the road. Here are the results of the other five road-heavy four-game starts:
Pats to Face Jets, Rodgers Thursday Night
By Bryan Morry, September 16, 2024
The Patriots and Jets will meet for the 131st time when New England travels to Met Life Stadium for a Week Three Thursday night matchup. The Pats are 16-9 all-time in Thursday games, including last year’s 21-18 win at Pittsburgh on Dec. 7, 2023.
They are, however, just 7-6 as the Thursday road team, which is typically a disadvantage in the short week with a travel day on Wednesday. Fortunately, it will be a short trip for New England, which could mitigate that disadvantage somewhat.
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Seahawks Fly In for Home Opener
By Bryan Morry, September 11, 2024
The Patriots will host the Seattle Seahawks in their 2024 home opener after an upset road win in the season opener at Cincinnati in first year head coach Jerod Mayo’s NFL debut on the sideline.
New England may be returning to Gillette Stadium this weekend, but it remains an underdog even playing on its home turf. The season-opening win against the Bengals did little to squelch national skepticism about the Patriots 2024 prospects.
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