Bill Belichick paid DeAndre Hopkins a rare compliment this week when breaking down the play of the Texans No. 1 receiver.
During this week's "Belichick Breakdown" segment with Scott Zolak, which can be found on Patriots.com, Belichick compared Hopkins to Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who Belichick recently described as a future Hall-of-Famer.
"This guy's had a tremendous career even though he's a young player," Belichick said of Hopkins. "Tough guy to cover. Great hands. Kind of a Larry Fitzgerald-type of receiver. Big, strong, goes up and gets the ball, hard to tackle, finishes plays, makes tough acrobatic catches, scores a lot of touchdowns. Really tough guy to cover."
The 6-foot-1, 214-pounder has been targeted 19 times through to games, he's racked up two touchdowns, and he has three catches that have gone for 20 yards or more. Last season, Hopkins was held to three catches for 52 yards in a 27-6 loss to the Patriots as he was effectively blanketed by corner Logan Ryan. That duty could fall to Ryan once again on Thursday night given New England's willingness to trust him against physical wideouts.
"I think Logan has very good playing strength, and although he’s not as big as some of those guys, he still has decent size and playing strength and instincts," Belichick said of his 5-11 corner. "I mean, he’s a very instinctive player. I’d say he has a good understanding of what those guys are going to try and do versus what a smaller, quicker receiver would try to do. He does a good job. He’s a very good technique player."
What makes Belichick, Ryan and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia's jobs more difficult this time around is that Houston has a quarterback who can push the ball down the field in Brock Osweiler, and there's another deep-threat receiver to worry about in rookie Will Fuller.
"This guy," Belichick said, "is really fast."
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In two games, Fuller is tied for the league lead with five catches that have gone for more than 20 yards, and 10 of his targets have traveled at least 20 yards down the field through the air. His hands were a question coming out of Notre Dame earlier this year, but Fuller has rewarded the Texans for their first-round investment in him. He's broken the 100-yard barrier in each of his first two games as a pro, and he's tied for fourth in the league in receiving yardage.
How the Patriots match up with Texans weapons in the secondary, how they deploy their safeties, and how they tilt their coverage will be one of the storylines to follow once the two teams kick off because Bill O'Brien's club as significantly more firepower this year than it did the last time they met.