T.J. Yates says Texans are ‘trying to mimic’ Patriots

Bill O'Brien has the Texans watching a lot of Patriots tape. (USATSI)

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Bill O'Brien comes to the Texans from the Patriots (by way of Penn State) so it's no surprise he's going to do things in a similar fashion.

Also: the Patriots are really good, so if, as T.J. Yates claims, the Texans are "trying to mimic" them, it's probably not a bad thing.

“Obviously watch a lot of Patriots film and seeing how they do it,” Yates said. “We're trying to mimic them right now.”

O'Brien also noted, via CSN Houston, the Texans are "changing tempo" a lot under the new regime. This is a pretty stark contrast from the methodical -- and borderline predictable -- approach under Gary Kubiak.

Again, no surprise. O'Brien pointed out the "view of tempo has evolved" in football over the years.

"Our view of tempo has evolved especially those of us who were in New England," O'Brien said. "We were a huddle team in New England and we were always a huddle team in New England. But then the last few years I was there we incorporated more no huddle and different tempos of no huddle."

Fast-paced offenses aren't viewed as gimmicky, but rather an intelligent strategy for keeping defenses on their heels. With no dominant quarterback on the roster -- only Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, T.J. Yates and Tom Savage are on the depth chart -- the Texans will have plenty of work to do in order to keep defenses honest.

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Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski still on schedule with his knee rehab



We last posted a note on Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski about six weeks ago. At that time, it was reported that Gronkowski was "right where he should be" in his rehab from a torn ACL and MCL, which he suffered in December.Six weeks later, today, the tune is the same. Gronkowski spoke to the media Wednesday and said he has been setback-free during the process. He isn't taking part in Patriots OTAs but still working out on his own to stay in shape.



I still think Gronk won't make it back for Week 1, and I will approach him in drafts this year similarly to how I did in 2013 -- I'm not going to take him. I shouldn't be so absolute, but he would have to fall mighty far for me to spend a pick on him. Gronk missing just one or two games at the start of the season seems like a best-case scenario. I don't think we'll see him play much in September, if at all. He showed last year that he can knock the rust off quickly as he caught eight passes for 114 yards when he debuted in Week 7. And when he was on the field, he played like the Gronk who deserves to be a second or third-round fantasy choice. But how long will he stay on the field? I'm not going to commit a significant amount of draft dollars or an early round pick in a player whom I don't have faith in to play more than half a season.The Patriots' tight end options behind Gronkowski are Michael Hoomanawanui and D.J. Williams. In other words, not much.