The New England Patriots have overcome some things as usual this season, and none of that prevented them from rolling up a 14-2 straight-up record and covering 13 of their 16 games. On Saturday they will come off their bye week and take on the Houston Texans for the right to go to the AFC championship game for the sixth year in a row. It is scheduled for 8:15 PM ET at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and will be carried live on CBS. BetAnySports customers can get reduced juice before the game starts, and then they can access Live Betting Ultra to keep the action going while the game is in progress.

First and foremost, New England had to work their way through the four-game suspension of Tom Brady, which was imposed by the league as a result of the "Deflategate" scandal, after he had actually beaten it, and the league, last season. And they went 3-1 in those games, having to dip into the depth chart for their third-string QB, Jacoby Brissett, a rookie from NC State who actually had to start a game against these Texans on September 22. Even with Brissett wearing a small cast on his thumb, Houston was not able to take full advantage of it, although in all fairness to the defense, which held New England to 282 yards and 15 first downs, the Texans' offensive attack was not able to take advantage of any chances at all. The result: a 27-0 New England victory, which was one of six straight-up losses Houston suffered on the road.

Of course, the Patriots also had to endure the season-ending injury to Rob Gronkowski, the all-world tight end who was averaging 21.6 yards per reception. So Brady and head coach Bill Belichick were not able to implement their favored two-tight end set for half the season. No matter; New England scored 30 points or more on eight different occasions, and surprise – the defense, which suffered the loss of Pro Bowl linebacker Jamie Collins, who was traded, and also had seen the departure of pass-rushing demon Chandler Jones in the off-season, nonetheless held opponents to just 15.6 points per game, which was lowest in the NFL.

In the odds by which we will make our NFL playoff picks for Saturday action at BetAnySports, New England is laying a boatload of points:

New England Patriots -15.5
Houston Texans +15.5

Over 44.5 points -110
Under 44.5 points -110

Brady may have had one of his finest seasons. Certainly he took care of the football well enough, throwing only two interceptions and completing 67% with 28 touchdowns. As usual, he was one of the quickest quarterbacks in the league when it came to making decisions and releasing the football. That contributed to his being sacked only 15 times, and so did the fact that the offensive line was able to stay together as a unit. All the starters have now been together for 11 straight games.

That line also cleared the way forLeGarrette Blount, who gained 1161 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. On any given weekend, the Patriots might run as a change of pace, or control the game with it. In this particular instance, they have to have it to keep the Houston defense honest. Remember that the Texans are very high in the NFL rankings in a number of defensive categories, including yards per game allowed (first), plays per drive allowed (also first) and passing yards allowed per game (second).

As most BetAnySports patrons know, however, that's not the real issue with Houston. They just can't put the ball in the end zone with any degree of regularity. In fact, they averaged 1.6 touchdowns per game, which was the lowest of any post-season participant in the NFL in 86 years. They are 31st in the league in cashing red zone opportunities into touchdowns, and they were also 28th in points scored. Part of it was that Brock Osweiler, the former Denver quarterback who came over to the team as a high-priced free-agent, did not meet expectations. He had a miniscule 5.8 yards per attempt, indicating that teams did not necessarily have to worry about the Houston air attack down the field. DeAndre Hopkins, considered one of the better wide receivers in the league, didn't even get to 1000 yards, and Will Fuller, the first-round draft choice at Notre Dame, who has blazing speed and big-play ability, disappeared from the offense at times. So these guys have a lot to prove, and they weren't tested all that much last week against the Oakland Raiders, because the ineptitude of first-time starting quarterback Connor Cook, forced into action because of injuries to Derek Carr in Matt McGloin, gave the ball away (three interceptions) and did not execute well enough, putting the Texans into situations of pretty good field position. Such will not be the case this week, and we can't imagine these Texans getting into shouting distance.

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