The Texans offense showed some signs of life on their third drive of the game.
Their special teams made things worse a few seconds later, however. After the Texans used their first drive of more than three plays to put three points on the board in the first quarter, Dion Lewis took a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown that put the life right back into the Gillette Stadium crowd.
Lewis is now the third player in NFL history with a receiving touchdown and kickoff return touchdown in the same game. He got the Patriots on the board earlier with his touchdown catch and the score is now 14-3 Patriots with a minute to go in the first quarter.
Texans special teams coach Larry Izzo, a longtime special teams standout for the Patriots in his playing days, could be seen lamenting his unit’s breakdown on the CBS broadcast.
The Texans appeared to be headed for a third straight three-and-out when a pass to DeAndre Hopkins left them short of a first down, but Patriots cornerback Eric Rowe was penalized for unnecessary roughness for pulling a Texans player off a pile that started after post-play pushing and shoving. They got rolling from there, but have a lot of work to do again thanks to Lewis’ big play.
