Houston Texans vs New England Patriots Match Player Stats On Sep 24, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 24, 2017

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Tom Brady worked his magic again at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.

Down by five points with the ball at his own 25 and 2:24 left, Brady took his team 75 yards, throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass -- his fifth of the game -- to Brandin Cooks with 23 seconds left and then hit Cooks with a 2-point conversion to give the New England Patriots a 36-33 over the Houston Texans.

Brady completed passes on third-and-15 (Rob Gronkowski) and third-and-17 (Danny Amendola, 27 yards) to set up the winning score, but the drive got help when safety Corey Moore was unable to hold onto an interception at the Houston 2.

Before the late heroics, Texans rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson used his right arm and his legs to put his team in position to give the Patriots (2-1) back-to-back home losses for the first time in nine years. But he came up short as rookie quarterbacks fell to 0-9 against head coach Bill Belichick and the Texans dropped to 0-6 all-time at Gillette Stadium.

After the teams both went through their respective free-speech expressions before the game -- 16 New England players knelt on a knee and others locked arms while the Texans locked arms as one on the sideline -- Watson took over.

Until Brady took it back.

It was the 52nd fourth-quarter comeback for Brady, who notched his sixth five-touchdown and 78th 300-yard games. He finished 25 of 35 for 378 yards.

Ka'imi Fairbairn kicked his third and fourth field goals of the game in the fourth quarter to give Houston (1-2) the lead.

Watson finished 22 of 33 for 301 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions -- the second on a Hail Mary on the final play of the game.

That came after the rookie lost 10 of the game's last 13 seconds without calling timeout after a 21-yard pass to DeAndre Hopkins to get to his own 46.

Gronkowski, who got that vital first down with his brute strength, had eight catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, while Cooks caught five for 131 and Chris Hogan caught two touchdown passes.

Hopkins caught seven passes for 76 yards.

NOTES: Patriots T Nate Solder was missing from pregame warmups but started. ... While TE Rob Gronkowski and three injured WRs, including Danny Amendola, were able to play, LB Dont'a Hightower and T Marcus Cannon were scratched. ... The Texans were missing RB Alfred Blue for the third straight game, while WR Will Fuller was also out for a third straight, both having returned to practice this week. ... The Patriots honored new club Hall of Famer Raymond Clayborn at halftime. ... The Texans host the Tennessee Titans and the Patriots the Carolina Panthers next Sunday.