Tom Brady tells receivers they need to be 'faster, quicker, more explosive'

But the Patriots still own a one-game lead over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East, and control their own fate for clinching a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Tom Brady and the Patriots' offense struggled for most of the game. He was sacked three times for a loss of 16 yards but did not throw any interceptions.

Sunday was Watson's best career outing against the Patriots. Really? New England had twice as many third downs as Houston, the Patriots were over 50% in third down efficiency, they passed for over 300 yards, rushed for three times as many yards as the Texans, and dominated time of possession.

Watson caught a short pass from DeAndre Hopkins on a trick play to put Houston up 28-9 with less than 10 minutes to play.

"We were watching a game, and actually, I think it was Chicago that did it", Watson revealed.

Flashing back to the present, Watson wasn't shy about revealing where he learned the play from following their 28-22 win. The Patriots filed tampering charges against the Texans when they fired general manager Brian Gaine and wanted to hire Nick Caserio out of New England's front office this past offseason.

"It builds our confidence", Watson said. "It just shows us and shows the world that we can play with anybody on any given day if we come out and play".