By Kate Joseph
Staff Writer

The New England Patriots took down the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon at Reliant Stadium.

The Patriots, first in the AFC East Team standings, defeated the Texans, last in the AFC South Team standings, by just three points.

This marks Houston’s tenth loss in a row while the Patriots secured their 13th consecutive win.

“It’s a big plus,” said coach Bill Belichick. “We have to find a way to win on the road. Fortunately, this week we did it.”

The Texans were the first to get on the scoreboard with a touchdown by Ben Tate less than five minutes into the first quarter. Shortly after, Houston’s Randy Bullock scored a 43-yard field goal.

New England retaliated at the end of the quarter with a touchdown thanks to a deep pass by Tom Brady and a catch by Rob Gronkowski to bring the score to 7-10.

Houston dominated the second quarter with a single touchdown, second of the game by Tate, to keep their lead.

The Patriots managed to turn the game around in the second half. Brady made a 50-yard pass to Gronkowski and James Develin completed the play by scoring a touchdown less than three minutes into the third quarter.

“They gave me the ball down there, and they trusted me to try and plunge that one in. I just tried not to stop my legs and get in there,” said Develin. “I don’t get the ball much. I’m blessed they gave me the opportunity, and I’m glad I made the best of it.”

Shortly after, Brady passed nine yards left to Shane Vereen to complete New England’s second touchdown of the game, giving the Patriots their first lead of the game.

Houston managed to stay on the board in the third quarter as well with Case Keenum scoring for the Texans leaving the score at 21-24.

New England kicked off the final quarter with a seven yard touchdown by LaGarrette Blount after a four player effort.

Tate scored the fourth and final touchdown for Houston. In total, Tate scored three touchdowns and  ran 102 yards for the Texans, his first 100 yard rushing game since 2011 due in part to four broken ribs back in October.

To take the lead, Stephen Gostowski scored two field goals for the Patriots to bring the final score to 34-31. Gostkowski also broke his 21 straight field goal streak, the second longest in team history, after a wide attempt.

Texans linebacker Darryl Sharpton was disappointed with the loss, but praised New England’s work on the field.

“Brady is obviously one of the greatest of all time,” said Sharpton. “He showed the reason why today. He is able to dissect defenses very well.”

Brady was New England’s standout player of the game, throwing for 371 yards and two touchdown plays.

“We’re trying to do our best, go out there and execute the game plan, and certainly, it’s not always perfect,” said Brady. “It ended up being a dogfight for us. But we found a way to pull it out, and I think that’s the most important thing.”

Despite the win, Brady wishes the team didn’t have to rally like they did the week before when they barely defeated the Denver Broncos.

“Whatever we’re doing is not good enough,” said Brady. “We can’t keep getting behind because you have to play too well in the second half to overcome. I wish we could start fast and put the foot on the gas pedal the whole way.”

Coach Belichick agreed with Brady’s sentiments.

“It’s not the way we want to play,” he told the AP. “Hopefully, I can find a way to coach better than I’ve done, find a way to get ahead.”

As for Houston, Gary Kubiak returned to coach from the sideline for the first time since suffering a mini-stroke at the beginning of November.

“We’re playing hard, we’re not always playing good,” Kubiak told the AP. “We had a lot of opportunities to make plays ourselves, just didn’t make it enough.”

Though Belichick has a lot of things he wants the team to improve on, he’s proud of Sunday’s game.

“I’m proud of our guys for making the plays they needed to make. Obviously the offense put a lot of points on the board and that was important,” said Belichick.

The Patriots return to the field on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 1 p.m. when they face the Cleveland Browns at Gillette Stadium.