The Patriots started four backup offensive lineman sandwiched around captain and starting center David Andrews in Sunday afternoon’s 25-22 win in Houston.
What resulted – with Justin Herron at left tackle, James Ferentz at left guard, Ted Karras at right guard and Yodny Cajuste at right tackle – was arguably New England’s best offensive line performance of the season.
For the first time all year, the Patriots had all five offensive linemen play 100 percent of the snaps in a game. The results, well they were good enough to win. Mac Jones was sacked just once and hit only four times according to the NFL stats. The group also paved the way for 30 rushing attempts for 126 yards (4.2 avg.), production boosted on a 7:00 minute drive to Nick Folk’s game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter.
“Overall, as a group, they played hard,” Bill Belichick said of his offensive line Monday morning after watching the film of the road win. “They played with a high level of intensity and competitiveness. Overall, the pass protection was pretty good, and we were able to punch out some yards in the run game, but I thought they fought hard, competed hard. For guys who haven't really played much or played together much, I thought they did a pretty good job.
“I think all the things I said about the group would apply to each of the individual players as well. Good effort. A lot of positive things. Not perfect, but more good than bad for sure.”
Beyond New England’s fill-in offensive line playing all 64 offensive snaps against the Texans, here are some other notes on the Patriots snap counts from their second win of the season:
--New England’s 64 offensive snaps in Houston were the third most for the team in a game this season, the most in a victory.
--Jakobi Meyers continues to get the most playing time of any skill position player other than Mac Jones. Meyers was on the field for 58 snaps (91 percent) against the Texans. The team’s clear No. 1 WR at this point, Meyers has played in 93 percent of the snaps on the season. Meyers had four catches on five targets for 56 yards, his one unfortunate failure an ugly drop on a wide open deep ball down the left sideline.
--Wide receiver Nelson Agholor played in a season-low 67 percent of offensive snaps in Houston, his 43 reps tying a season-low set a week earlier against Tampa Bay.
Agholor had three catches on four targets for 32 yards.
--Tight ends Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith had matching games in terms of playing time with 40 snaps (62 percent) in Houston, though they did not have matching production.
Henry caught six of the eight passes thrown his way for 75 yards, finding the end zone for the second time in as many weeks. Smith had two catches on two targets for 27 yards.
--Brandon Bolden had the most reps among running backs, logging 22 snaps (38 percent). Bolden has picked up some of the slack in the third-down role since James White landed on IR and with Damien Harris missing time to a rib injury on Sunday. Bolden’s production included two rushes for 25 yards and four catches on four targets for just 6 yards. The veteran had a key 24-yard run on New England’s 7:00-minute drive to a game-winning field goal late in the fourth quarter.
--Rookie Rhamondre Stevenson returned to the game day roster to play 22 snaps (34 percent) against the Texans. The rookie, who’d been sidelined since fumbling after a reception in Week 1 against the Dolphins, had 11 carries for 23 yards in Houston.
--Fullback Jakob Johnson matched a season high with 16 snaps (25 percent) in the win.
--New England played 59 defensive snaps against rookie QB Davis Mills and the Texans, the units fewest reps on the field since the Week 1 loss to the Dolphins.
--Devin McCourty played 100 percent of the snaps for the fourth time in five games, while J.C. Jackson also was on the field for all 59 snaps. It was the third time Jackson has logged 100-percent play time, the second time in as many weeks.
--Sixteen New England defenders played at least 24 percent of the snaps, 14 playing at least 49 percent.
--Matt Judon had the most snaps of any non-defensive back with 53, a season-high 90-percent playtime for the impact edge rusher. Judon notched a sack for the fourth straight game, taking Mills down twice in the second quarter to give the veteran newcomer a team-high 6.5 sacks on the season.
--With Jalen Mills inactive, Joejuan Williams made his first NFL start, playing 35 snaps (59 percent). Williams was the victim of a flea-flicker, 37-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
--Second-year safety Kyle Dugger had a team-best 10 tackles in his season-low 45 snaps (76 percent). Still, New England had three safeties – McCourty, Dugger and Adrian Phillips (53 snaps, 90 percent) -- on the field most of the time.
--Chase Winovich played just 7 snaps (12 percent), his fewest snaps in a game since he played just 5 snaps in Week 7 in Buffalo last season.
--Just a few days after re-signing with New England for his third tenure with the team, veteran linebacker Jamie Collins played three defensive snaps in Houston.
Collins did record a sack in his limited playing time. He also played six snaps on special teams.
--Matthew Slater, Justin Bethel and Brandon King led the special teams units for the Patriots with 21 snaps each in the kicking game.
--Among guys who also saw significant playing time on either offense or defense, Brandon Bolden led the way with 16 snaps on special teams, followed by Lawrence Guy (13), Phillips (12) and Johnson (12).
