Tom Brady, New England Patriots to play for AFC title

The New England Patriots capped a thrilling, unpredictable weekend of football with a very familiar result on Sunday evening.

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are headed to their seventh AFC title game after throttling the Houston Texans 41-28. Houston put up a better fight than it did a month ago, but the Patriots' offense had too many weapons for the Texans.

The Patriots will host the Baltimore Ravens next week in the first rematch of an AFC Championship Game since the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns squared off against one another in 1986 and 1987.

It's almost like the Football Gods want the Patriots to play in New Orleans again. The Patriots were slated to be the No. 3 seed in the AFC until the Texans gagged in Week 17 against the Indianapolis Colts. With the Denver Broncos out of the picture, the Patriots will play host to the AFC Championship Game.

The Ravens are playing at a very high level and always give the Patriots trouble, so it's hardly an easy slate. But it sure beats having to win on the road twice to try to make the Super Bowl.

Tom Brady has now won more playoff games than anyone in history, and Sunday's win had so many familiar aspects to recent Patriots triumphs:

» They won the turnover battle 1-0. Rob Ninkovich's interception on Matt Schaub in the third quarter, followed by a Brady bomb to running back Shane Vereen, essentially ended the game.

» The team's hurry-up approach gave their opponent fits. The Patriots got off a number of snaps before the Texans were ready, which led to big plays. Houston's tempo on both sides of the ball was simply slower.

» The Patriots' defense was not outstanding, giving up a lot of yardage. But it made enough big plays at key moments to let Brady do the rest.

» No team overcomes injuries like the Patriots. They lost Rob Gronkowski (arm), Danny Woodhead (wrist), and Chandler Jones (ankle) during the game. Gronkowski will miss the rest of the playoffs. And yet, it really didn't seem to slow this team down. Brady threw for 344 yards and three touchdowns.

These are the moments Brady lives for. The consistency of their post-2004 teams gets taken for granted because it has been a while since their last Super Bowl title. But the Patriots are always contenders, and Brady is always putting the team back in position to get another title.

At this point, it's more surprising when the Patriots aren't in the AFC title game.

AFC Divisional Playoffs Preview: New England Patriots vs. Houston Texans

New England Patriots vs. Houston Texans

Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013

4:30 p.m. (EST)

CBS

Texans' offense vs. Patriots' defense

Texans receiver Andre Johnson, running back Arian Foster and quarterback Matt Schaub are possibly the league's most dangerous offensive trio, but the key to stopping the Texans' Big Three will be the Patriots' big 325-pounder: nose tackle Vince Wilfork. Wilfork's role in the Patriots' defense is simply to occupy as many blockers as possible in order to help other Patriots defenders remain unblocked. It's a role he fills well, and if he fills it well enough in the run game, the rest of the Texans' offense will hit a major speed bump.

Behind the line of scrimmage, Foster's not the most elusive or hard to bring down, so if the Patriots' front seven can shoot through the gaps and shut down the outside run, the scales tip in New England's favor. If the Patriots' front seven can only push Houston's offensive linemen back, but can't fully penetrate the Texans' zone-blocking scheme, Foster has the patience and vision to find an avenue from which to terrorize the Patriots' defense.

Wilfork will be the determining difference-maker deciding whether the Patriots disrupt or merely react to the Texans' running game. If he can anticipate where Foster's headed and take the right angle to force two or more offensive linemen to engage him, it will wreak havoc on the Texans' zone-blocking scheme and allow the rest of the front seven to shoot into gaps to get behind the line of scrimmage.

If the Texans can't get the run game going and have to rely primarily on their passing attack, they're going to have a much harder time winning. Andre Johnson is one of the league's top receivers and Matt Schaub puts up big numbers, but Houston's passing game struggles mightily when Schaub is under consistent pressure and doesn't have the benefit of play-action passing on his side. Schaub doesn't step up in the middle of the pocket when it's vacant, and he frequently underthrows balls when rushed up the middle. When he gets pressured and tries to move in the pocket, focuses his eyes on the pass rush, which leads to dangerous mistakes throwing under duress.

When the Texans are passing, Wilfork will be the primary factor responsible for ensuring Schaub is pressured into the mistakes he's prone to making when he can't lean on the run game. Against the Patriots in Week 14, the Texans usually assigned two offensive linemen to block Wilfork, with a running back or fullback often staying in the backfield to chip whichever rusher got close to the quarterback first.

If Wilfork can shed a blocker and force the back to engage him, it will occupy the back and give other pass rushers a cleaner lane to get to Schaub. If Wilfork can't, the back can focus on another pass rusher and give Schaub more time to accurately get the ball to Johnson, which is an extremely undesirable outcome for the Patriots.

Patriots' offense vs. Texans' defense

New England offensive tackles Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer are going to be crucial in the Patriots' efforts to stop defensive end J.J. Watt. Watt's probably the best 3-4 end in the league, and the number of blockers required to slow him can disrupt the rest of the offense's protection schemes.

If Solder and Vollmer can anchor the tackle positions and handle any outside rushers without help, it frees up all three interior linemen and whoever the Patriots have blocking in the backfield to work to neutralize the inside rush. If Solder or Vollmer start needing another blocker's help taking care of the outside rush, that takes away a blocker who can help with the inside rush and makes the pocket more likely to collapse from the middle. As long as the protection holds up, quarterback Tom Brady will be able to find open targets all day.

The Texans struggle to adjust their coverage before the snap when a tight end lines up flexed out wide, so tight ends as skilled as the Patriots' Aaron Hernandez and Rob Grownkowski give an offense an edge against the Texans. With Gronkowski sidelined by a broken arm in Week 14, Hernandez lined up all over the field, catching eight passes for 58 yards and two touchdowns in a 42-14 victory for the Patriots. Now that Gronkowski's back, the Patriots will now have two tight ends with whom they can exploit the Texans' biggest defensive weakness.

On the outside of the field, receivers Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd aren't the fastest deep-threat receivers in the league by any means. However, both are well-regarded for being able to run clean, precise routes with convincing fakes and double moves. Houston cornerback Kareem Jackson can be undisciplined at times, so he's going to have to play with good fundamentals against the Patriots or the slightest stutter-step will fool him and lead to a big gain for New England.