FOXBORO -- There were moments early in the first meeting between the Texans and Patriots that, if they had gone differently, could have made the game . . . competitive.
An end-zone pick thrown by Matt Schaub on the Texans' second possession prevented Houston from drawing within at least 7-3. Two fourth-down dice rolls from the Patriots' 33 and 38-yard line in the second quarter didn't come in.
On a Wednesday morning conference call, I asked Kubiak if he needs to remind his team to steer clear of laments and not realize that they earned that 42-14 loss.
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"You're making a huge mistake if you start saying, 'If we'd have done this, if we'd have done that, we'd have been fine,' " said Kubiak. "We weren't fine. We got our tails kicked. They were very, very explosive and look at what they've done to some teams in their building this year. They're sitting there, got us down 28-7 in the third. They had Denver down 31-7 late in the third. They had Indy down, golly, I think it was 49-17. They've really gotten after some teams."
The aggression Houston showed in going for it on fourth down early when trailing 21-0 shows they understood the need to keep pace and that field goals weren't going to cut it.
"A game can get away from you there if you miss opportunities or make mistakes and we're gonna have to come in there and play a 60-minute football game, but we're gonna have to step to the plate and make some plays," said Kubiak.
The head coach added that it can't necessarily be relying upon the usual suspects to make the plays, either.
"We all got our strengths, I think everybody has people they want to touch the ball and they have people they want to take away, that's a part of this league," Kubiak said. "But one of the things that stands out to me in all my years in this league being a part of some great football games and a lot of playoff games is that at this time of year, successful teams get plays from everywhere. I don't think you can go into a game and say, 'This guy's gotta carry the load,' or 'This guy's gotta make every play,' I think everybody's gotta step up and be accountable and usually when a lot of new faces are making plays, you continue to move on. It's gotta be spread around."