Marwin Gonzalez and pitcher Lance McCullers were all in attendance, with Bregman wearing a custom No. 2 Texans jersey with his name on the back.

FOXBOROUGH Kahale Warring Jersey Mens , Mass. (AP) — Injuries prevented the Texans from finding out exactly what their team could have been last season.Star defensive end J.J. Watt, linebacker Whitney Mercilus and quarterback Deshaun Watson were among 21 Houston players that spent time on injured reserve during the 2017 campaign. The season predictably imploded, ending with six straight losses.But before the avalanche of injuries, the Texans gave the eventual AFC champion New England Patriots all they could handle during a Week 3 visit to Gillette Stadium.Despite having a rookie signal caller in Watson, the Texans’ offense matched touchdowns with the Patriots. Houston was headed for an improbable victory before Tom Brady rescued his team with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks in the final minute to give New England a 36-33 victory.Now healed and with a revamped defense, the Texans return to New England on Sunday, hoping to put their misfortunes in the past as they open the 2018 season.That is particularly true in the case of Watt, who has had parts of the past two seasons derailed by injuries .He played just three games in 2016 before being sidelined with a herniated disc. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year then appeared in five games last season before having his year ended by a fractured left tibia.“I’m just looking forward to playing football again,” Watt said. “Obviously the last two years have been very rough for me. You want to play and everything that I’ve had to go through in the rehabs and the recoveries and all that it took and then, obviously, (Hurricane Harvey) as well.“But I’m just looking to getting back out on the field, playing football, flying around with the guys, doing what I love.”Meanwhile, the Patriots begin yet another season as the favorite in a conference they have dominated for nearly two decades thanks to Brady. He’s now 41, but has yet to show any signs of diminished capacity coming off an MVP season.He’ll have a new-look receiving corps following the offseason departures of Danny Amendola and Cooks, as well as the four-game suspension of Julian Edelman for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancers.Though he’s already secured his place in the Hall of Fame and may possibly end his career as the most accomplished quarterback in league history Youth Kahale Warring Jersey , Brady reiterated this week in the final installment of his Facebook Watch series “Tom Vs Time” that he wants to play five more seasons .“I think I can do it,” he said. “It’ll be a challenge for me. I don’t think it’s going to be easy. It’s going to be hard to do. I think it’s going to be very hard to do. But I think I can do it. And once you stop you’re done. And I think I’m not ready to say I’m done, because I don’t feel like I am.”Here are some other things to know about Sunday’s matchup between the Texans and Patriots:CLOWNEY COMING: After having the best season of his career in 2017, Jadeveon Clowney is looking to do even more this year as part of a line that also features Watt.The top overall pick in the 2014 draft finished last year second in the NFL with a career-high 21 tackles for losses, and his 9 1/2 sacks, 21 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles were also career bests. He started all 16 games for the first time after struggling with injuries through the early part of his career, and his 59 tackles in 2017 were the most of his career.“My goal is to make more plays than I did last year … improving my sacks and tackles for loss and everything,” he said. “I just want to do that again. With everybody back this year the sky’s the limit for this defense and myself. I just have to come out and put it all together.”SPOTLESS RECORD: Houston is one of four teams New England has an undefeated regular-season home record against (4-0). The Patriots are 5-0 against Baltimore, 4-0 against Chicago and 4-0 against Jacksonville.The Patriots also have won the last five regular-season meetings with the Texans overall.HAVING HIS WAY: Aside from his late-game heroics last season, Brady has been equally steady against the Texans during his career. He has an 8-1 record against Houston, passing for 22 touchdowns and 2,565 yards (regular season and playoffs).CONTAINING WATSON: Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower will be playing in his first regular-season game since suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last October. He said he’s excited about the challenge of trying to contain Watson, who had his way with the Patriots in their meeting last season, passing for 301 yards and two touchdowns. Hightower said putting pressure on Watson early will be key to trying to slow him down.“I think that’s the biggest thing … just not letting those guys get comfortable inside the pocket,” Hightower said. “Hopefully we’ll do a good job this week containing him in the run and pass game.” HOUSTON鈥?Indianapolis receiver T.Y. Hilton missed multiple practices with a shoulder injury in the week leading up to Sunday’s trip to NRG Stadium for a critical AFC South matchup. The Colts said his status was up in the air.Hilton knew he couldn’t possibly miss a game at a place where he’s had more success than any receiver since the stadium opened in 2002.He played, and in Indianapolis’ 24-21 win over Houston, Hilton had 199 receiving yards and Andrew Luck threw for 399 yards and two touchdowns.“This is my second home White Kahale Warring Jersey , man,” Hilton said, laughing. “This is my second home. I don’t know. Every time I come here, I just go off. I don’t know what it is.”Hilton entered as the all-time leader in receiving yards per game at NRG Stadium with 122.3 yards and finished Sunday just shy of 200 yards with nine catches on 12 targets. In seven career games in Houston, Hilton has topped 100 yards four times, with three of those for more than 175 yards.The Colts (7-6) snapped a nine-game winning streak by the Texans (9-4), trimming Houston’s lead over the AFC South to two games with three remaining.Luck said throughout the week, the Colts were seeing things in the Texans’ defense that led them to believe Hilton’s “speed and maneuverability” could again be a key to success in Houston.“Once we got that first one, it was like, ‘OK, here we go,'” Luck said. “When T.Y.’s in the zone, he’s in a zone, man. It’s fun to play with him and it’s an honor to play with him.”Hilton’s performance gave him his 11th 150-yard game, setting a franchise record. He has also topped 800 receiving yards for a seventh consecutive season, the longest active streak in the NFL.The Colts started slow and didn’t have a first down until early in the second quarter. They went to a no-huddle offense and found momentum on that drive before a pass from Luck was tipped by Kareem Jackson and intercepted by Andre Hal.Indianapolis finally ended a lengthy scoring drought after a 60-yard completion to Hilton set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Marlon Mack. The Colts entered Sunday having allowed just 14 sacks, second only to New Orleans. Houston’s usually menacing pass rush was largely neutralized with just two sacks from J.J. Watt and Christian Covington after being held without a sack against Cleveland last week.“They did a good job Ibraheim Campbell Jersey White , they played good football,” Watt said. “T.Y. obviously had a huge day. We knew going in that’s a guy we had to stop and we didn’t. That’s on everybody. Luck did a good job spreading it around, guys got open and he found them. We have to play better.”Indianapolis’ defense, on the other hand, gave Houston fits both in the passing and running game. The Colts sacked Watson five times for a loss of 41 yards and held Houston’s rushing offense to just 89 yards on 25 carries.“There was a confidence all week,” Reich said. “What was best about this was, we expected to win this game. We really did.”Watson had 267 yards passing and 35 yards rushing. Tight end Ryan Griffin led Houston receivers with 80 yards on five catches, while Hopkins was held to 36 yards on four catches.“We’re good. I mean, it’s the NFL 鈥?every game is tough,” Watson said. “It’s tough to go on a two-game winning streak. We went on nine. Today it ended, but it’s a new task to put this game behind us. Next week, we’re 0-0 and we’ll try to get 1-0. It’s no panic button for us. We’ll keep moving and try to flip the script next week and get back to the winning column.”Houston cut Indianapolis’ lead to 24-21 with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins with less than three minutes remaining. With the Colts facing a critical third-and-1 at midfield, Luck drew Jadeveon Clowney offside to secure a first down and the win.Clowney refused to comment when approached by reporters.Houston scored first on a 3-yard touchdown run by running back Alfred Blue. The Colts then scored 17 straight before Houston opened the third quarter with a long drive to a 1-yard touchdown run on a direct snap to Lamar Miller to cut the Colts’ lead to 17-14.The Colts took a 14-7 lead late in the first half on a 14-yard pass from Luck to Eric Ebron. It was Luck’s fourth straight touchdown pass to a tight end, three of which went to Ebron.Luck had not thrown a touchdown pass to a non-tight end since the Nov. 18 win over Tennessee until the third quarter, when he found receiver Zach Pascal for a 12-yarder to put the Colts up 24-14.Indianapolis had a 54-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri as time expired in the second quarter to take a 17-7 halftime lead. During Houston’s winning streak, the team never trailed at halftime.“I don’t like what happened today, but I’m fine with where we are Vyncint Smith Jersey White ,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “This is the NFL. We did not do a good enough job today. The Colts did a much better job than us. There’s a lot of football left.”PLAYOFF RACEIndianapolis will host the Cowboys and Giants before closing out the season in Tennessee, while Houston visits the Jets and Eagles before hosting Jacksonville in the finale.HOPKINS’ MILESTONEWith a 10-yard reception in the third quarter, Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins topped 7,000 receiving yards in his career. At 26 years, 6 months, 3 days, Hopkins became the second-youngest player in NFL history to surpass 7,000 yards, behind only Larry Fitzgerald who was 26 years, 3 months and 20 days when he reached the mark.EBRON IN THE END ZONEWith his 12th receiving touchdown of the season, Colts tight end Eric Ebron set a franchise record for the position. The record was previously held by Dallas Clark. Ebron also has one rushing touchdown on the season. In four seasons with the Lions, Ebron totaled 11 touchdown catches and one rushing touchdown.ASTROS IN ATTENDANCEHouston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, infielder/outfielder Marwin Gonzalez and pitcher Lance McCullers were all in attendance, with Bregman wearing a custom No. 2 Texans jersey with his name on the back. Bregman also briefly played catch with Watt on the sidelines during pre-game warmups.INJURIESTexans receiver and kick returner Deandre Carter left in the first quarter and was later ruled out with a concussion. . Colts right guard Mark Glowinski was carted to the locker room in the second quarter with an ankle injury.UP NEXTColts: Host the Cowboys next Sunday.Texans: Visit the Jets next Saturday.