After a long seven months following the heartbreaking Super Bowl loss, the New England Patriots are finally ready to get their 2018-2019 season underway. It will come against the Houston Texans, who bring a lot of interesting factors to the table. Their head coach, Bill O’Brien, worked under Bill Belichick for the Pats for multiple seasons and is someone who is very familiar with the entire Patriots’ system. He will have his team well-prepared, and the talent spread across his roster definitely could lead to problems down in Foxborough for the Patriots. 
Last season, the Patriots barely beat the Texans, as they won 36-33 on a last-minute touchdown to newcomer Brandin Cooks, who no longer plays for New England. Tom Brady was excellent in the game, throwing five touchdowns and passing for 378 yards which was good for a 146.2 rating. To my point, as good a day Brady had, the Patriots were hardly able to edge out the Texans as they needed a flawless game from their star quarterback. The Patriots are also entering this season with a lot less weapons than they have had in previous years. It does not help that Julian Edelman has finally returned, after having torn his ACL, but will have to watch from home for the first four weeks due to the fact that he is serving a suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. 
One of the most promising young talents across the NFL is Deshaun Watson, the quarterback of the Houston Texans. In week three against the Patriots, he surpassed 300 passing yards, and threw two touchdowns in the loss. Through seven games, he was the clear-cut rookie of the year as he was torching defenses with both his arm and his legs. Unfortunately, his season was stopped short after an ACL-tear just before week nine. This will be his first game he has played since he went down, so maybe the rust will show and will benefit the Patriots. If he is at full health and ready to be himself again, the Patriots will have to do a much better job at containing him and forcing him to make quick decisions. When he is able to buy time and run all over the place, he often finds open receivers and makes the defense pay. I’m sure Bill Belichick has been continuously pounding that into the entire team’s minds the past couple of weeks, as he is focused on starting the season strong, unlike last year’s 42-27 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Another player to watch out for on the Texans is wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. He has been a top-five receiver in the league for quite some time now, and always seems to make an impact in games against the Patriots. Last year, he caught seven balls which was good for 76 yards, however he did not get into the end zone.The Patriots would love to keep him from getting a touchdown again this time around, but it would be nice to limit his catches and yards as well. Expect to see Stephon Gilmore, a terrific man-to-man cornerback, covering Hopkins for the majority of the game.
As long as the Patriots stick to their game plan, they should be fine against the young, inexperienced Texans team. A lot of questions will be answered–maybe the biggest one is how the receiving core will play. A lot of new and unfamiliar faces will be catching passes from Brady this week, and it will be interesting to see who is already in his circle of trust.