The new decade has already not been kind to the New England Patriots.

On the Patriots’ first drive of the game against the Houston Texans, WR Wes Welker made his 123rd catch of the season and ran for a first down (on third down, of course).  As he saw Texans SS Bernard Pollard, he tried to juke hard to the left to elude him … and in the process, he blew his left knee out.  Just ugly.  I mention Pollard because the irony of his presence is not lost on any Patriots fan; in the 2008 season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, QB Tom Brady … you know what happened.  For the record, I didn’t think Pollard should have been blamed for Brady’s injury (he was blocked into him), and Welker’s injury was non-contact.  Welker just took a really bad step on the grass field at Reliant Stadium.

The post-injury stadium funeral was underway for the man responsible for 22% of the Patriots’ total offense (and 29.6% of the Patriots’ passing yards): the agony and pain on the turf, being helped off slowly, the tears, the towel, the condolences, the cart.  It does not really matter that the Patriots lost this game to the Texans 34-27; the Patriots still ended up with the third seed in the AFC Playoffs via the Cincinnati Bengals’ no-show at New York against the Jets.  It’s obvious that the bigger loss is to a receiver who, more or less, moves the Patriots’ offense and serves as the primary punt returner.  Just as Brady’s injury cast a pall over the 2008 season, Welker’s injury is a most critical blow to the Patriots as they enter the 2009 postseason, and given the seriousness and timing of the injury, will most certainly affect him for the start of the 2010 season as well.  That Super Bowl loss to the Giants hurts more and more with each passing season.

Now, considering that they had to continue on without Welker after that first quarter drive, New England played very well, outscoring the Texans 27-6 in between the injury and 14 minutes left in the 4th quarter.  That was to say, it was quite the weird game.  For one, the Patriots expectantly rested DE Ty Warren and NT Vince Wilfork.  They would miss those two, because Texans rookie RB Arian Foster probably earned his next contract against the Patriots.  Unexpectantly, CB Leigh Bodden and RBs Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk did not dress.  Bodden is the team’s best cornerback but he had a knee injury so rookie CB Darius Butler started opposite CB Shawn Springs.  Maroney is the team’s best running back, but he hasn’t played now since losing his fourth fumble of the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  And Faulk, the team’s best receiving back, got the day off as FB BenJarvus Green-Ellis was active.

The Texans took a 7-0 lead on a blown coverage of TE Joel Dreessen - the second most blatant blown coverage of the season behind Devery Henderson’s TD against the Patriots in week 12.  After Welker got hurt, the teams traded punts and Patriots rookie WR Julian Edelman got busy.  I like Edelman.  He was an option QB at Kent State University, and so he’s been learning the WR position ever since the Patriots drafted him in the 7th round of the 2009 NFL Draft.  He’s not as quick, polished, or sure-handed as Welker, but at 6-0, 200, he’s bigger than Welker and he has shown the ability to run hard after the catch.  He caught 8 passes for 98 yards against the Jets in week 2 (the first of two games Welker missed this season), and against the Texans he put up career highs of 10 receptions for 103 yards, including a 25 yard catch and run that set up Fred Taylor’s first TD.  Edelman also will replace Welker as the punt returner.  Maybe the Patriots thought that Wes Welker was so valuable, they figured they start looking for a backup model with the 232nd pick in the draft.  Hmm.

The six points the Texans scored came after a 4th down goal line stop by the Patriots.  On the ensuing possession, Fred Taylor didn’t secure the handoff from backup QB Brian Hoyer as he was hit in the end zone by Texans WLB Zac Diles.  Bernard Pollard recovered the ball in the end zone for a TD, but K Kris Brown missed the extra point.  Brown would also miss a 56 yard field goal before halftime and a 38 yard field goal in the third quarter.  Brown’s third quarter miss came the drive after Darius Butler intercepted a pass off of Texans WR Jacoby Jones’ hands and returned it 91 yards for a TD.  After Brown’s miss, the Patriots drove 71 yards in 9 plays, ending with Fred Taylor’s 2nd rushing TD of the game.  This time, it was from 11 yards out, and like the first Taylor TD, it was sprung off of an outstanding block by Green-Ellis at FB.  Green-Ellis’ blocking and Taylor’s running on the goal line (in 6 games this season, he scored 4 TDs on 63 carries) was impressive in this game and might be something the Patriots think about for the playoffs as Maroney fumbled twice on the goal line this season.  Taylor’s TD gave the Patriots a 27-13 lead in the 4th quarter.  It was shaping up to be a huge momentum builder for the Patriots and the ultimate letdown for the Texans, who were playing for the first winning season in franchise history, a potential playoff spot, and perhaps Gary Kubiak’s job.  But then Patriots performed a rather accommodating 4th quarter meltdown that the Patriots didn’t need entering the postseason, especially without Welker.

The Texans would score three TDs on their next three possessions to win the game.  The first TD drive was aided by a 26 yard pass interference call on Darius Butler that placed the ball on the Patriots 3 yard line; Jacoby Jones would then beat CB Jonathan Wilhite in the back of the end zone for a redeeming TD.  The second TD drive was aided by the Patriots going three and out (Brady was sacked by Texans Pro Bowl DE Mario Williams on third down) and a short Chris Hanson punt that was returned 31 yards by Jacoby Jones to the Patriots 34 yard line; seven plays later, Arian Foster scored the tying TD from 1 yard out.  The third TD drive was aided by Bernard Pollard intercepting Tom Brady’s underthrown pass intended deep down the left sideline for WR Sam Aiken.  Mario Williams split the Patriots offensive line up the middle and leveled Brady on the play, hanging the pass in the air for Pollard to field it and returning it to the Patriots 28 yard line.  I believe this was the worst call of the game by the Patriots.  It’s a tie game with just under 4 minutes left, 2nd and 14 from the New England 19 yard line.  The Patriots split out four wide (Aiken and Moss outside, Edelman and TE Ben Watson in the slots) and Fred Taylor left the backfield to receive.  In THIS game, why take a chance like that?!?  From there, it was all Arian Foster on the 4 play drive (runs of 6, 18, 7, and the winning TD from 3 yards out).  Foster gained a career high 119 yards on 20 carries and 2 TDs, the most yards the Patriots gave up to a running back NOT named Chris Johnson.  Yes, Warren and Wilfork were out, but everybody else played.  And to finish up the odd meltdown, Brian Hoyer was re-inserted to run the final two-minute drill.  I’m not saying it was a bad decision as I like the idea of seeing what Hoyer could do in this situation, and he led them to the Houston 34 before turning the ball over on downs.

But what a weird game, one that saw the Patriots lose the time of possession and turnover deficit for only the fifth time each this season (Patriots are 2-3 in both cases in 2009).  The Patriots also threw 38 times (26 attempts for Brady, 12 for Hoyer) while running only a season low 19 times, marking the first time the Patriots threw twice as much as they ran since weeks 1 and 2 in which Brady attempted 100 passes vs. 43 runs.  In addition to all of that, the defense regressed again, giving up 439 total yards to the Texans and 303 yards passing to Matt Schaub.  They will have to defend their home turf Sunday at 1PM vs. the Baltimore Ravens.  It’s a game that I felt could have happened three months ago after the Patriots won 27-21 in week 4 (“Shirts and Skirts: Does January call for Ravens/Patriots rematch?”).  That game marked the return of Wes Welker after a two-game absence.  During Wild Card weekend, the Patriots will prepare to win a championship without him.

-1SKILLZ