The New England Patriots held their nerve in a tight battle with the Houston Texans to secure a 34-31 victory to move to 9-3 in their NFL season.
The Texans took the lead in the contest on the second offensive possession of the game as Case Keenum led his team downfield and handed the ball off to Ben Tate and he powered into the endzone with an eight-yard run.
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It got better for the home side minutes later as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw an interception into the hands of cornerback Jonathan Joseph and that allowed the Texans to put a 43-yard field goal through the posts from the foot of Randy Bullock.
However, the visitors responded on their next drive following a 41-yard kick return from Josh Boyce and Brady moved his offense into a scoring area and he finished the drive with a 26-yard touchdown strike to tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Keenum and his offense were having a lot of success against the Patriots on the ground and in the air, and they extended their advantage just before the break when Ben Tate burst through the line and juked Devin McCourty to run in for a 20-yard touchdown.
After the break, the Patriots responded and drove the length of the field as Brady move his side down to the one-yard line before handing the ball off to full back James Develin, who managed to get into the endzone after initially being stopped at the line on the third attempt.
The visitors took the lead when Brady again moved his side seamlessly down the field before he found Shane Vereen in the endzone on a short pass and the back had no problem running the ball in for a nine-yard score.
Houston fought back and Keenum and Tate drove the team downfield with a combination of good passing and running through the line of scrimmage as the Patriots could not stop them and Keenum went into the endzone himself from five-yard out, running over the left side of the line.
The Patriots came back again with a run this time from LeGarrette Blount who powered into the endzone from seven yards but the Texans were ahead again within minutes as Keenum fired deep to DeAndre Hopkins and he made a grab for a 70-yard reception and two plays later Tate ran in for the score.
The game was on knife-edge but Brady and his offense held firm but they could not punch the ball in the endzone, but the boot of two Stephen Gostkowski field goals both from 53 yards was enough to hand them the win.
Simon Sinclair
