By DJ Harding
On Thursday night the New England Patriots faced off against the Houston Texans.
The Texans had number two overall pick C.J Stroud make his NFL preseason debut on the first drive of the game, which ended in an interception. Stroud only played the first two drives, going 2/4 for 13 yards.
Number three overall pick Will Anderson also made his debut for the Texans, only logging one tackle.
For New England, Bailey Zappe was the Patriots quarterback for most of the game. Zappe led the Patriots on a drive that ended in a field goal to begin the game. New England took an early 3-0 lead.
The Texans eventually got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter after punts by both teams and a Texans fumble early in the second quarter.
David Mills entered the game at quarterback on the Texans touchdown drive which ended with rookie Nathaniel Dell catching a six-yard pass.
The catch itself was spectacular as Dell bobbled it and still held on for the touchdown. Dell the rookie ended the game with five catches for 65 yards and that lone second quarter touchdown.
Houston took the lead 7-3 going into halftime and extended their lead early in the third quarter when Dalton Keene rushed for a one-yard touchdown.
The extra point was no good giving Houston a 13-3 lead which only got bigger in the fourth quarter.
Case Keenum was the third Texans quarterback to make an appearance and threw a fourth quarter touchdown pass to Alex Bachman.
New England responded with a touchdown of their own the very next drive. The score of 20-3 quickly went to 20-9 as undrafted rookie quarterback Malik Cunningham made an appearance and scrambled for a nine yard touchdown.
Cunningham overall ran for 34 yards, which led all Patriots rushers. Cunningham wasn’t the only rookie to perform as 17th overall pick Christian Gonzalez forced a fumble in his preseason debut.
After the 20-9 loss to open the preseason New England now travels on the road to Green Bay to face the Packers for week two of preseason action.