Pick Six: Week 17

It’s the kind of injury that believers in playing it safe use as an example. WR Wes Welker injured his knee when he planted his left foot to change direction, but the knee gave away. People believe he tore his ACL and MCL, ending Welker’s season just before the playoffs.

When Indianapolis’ head coach Jim Caldwell benched his starters with about 5:30 left in the third quarter in week 16, it was an injury like Welker’s Caldwell wanted to avoid to a key player. The Colts are already without safety Bob Sanders and had several others nursing injuries. It’s better to rest the starters and not put them in harm’s way.

That line of thinking is sound, but playing it safe wasn’t as important as playing to win. There wasn’t a player on the Patriots that would rather sit out a game than suit up and take the field, Welker included. New England needed the best players if they wanted to beat Houston.

Also at stake is momentum for New England. They won their last three games and they were playing better as the season was winding down. Riding the groove through the season finale and into the playoffs by winning the final regular season game, especially a road win, would build positive vibes going into Wild Card Weekend.

For those that think Welker’s injury is proof New England should had protected the starters, don’t forget that no one touched Welker when he injured his knee. Maybe the injury was bound to happen at some point. It could had happened in the next game for all we know. Maybe it wouldn’t happen ever if Welker sat. All we know is Welker collapsed trying to change direction like he has done thousands of time.

It’s too bad what happened, but injuries are a part of the game. If it wasn’t Welker now, it could had been him later or someone else. Good teams adjust and overcome injuries better than lesser teams. We’ll see how good the Patriots really are on Sunday.

1. Welker was just short of the NFL record of receptions a game with 8.8. Former Indianapolis Colt Marvin Harrison set the standard with 8.9 rec/gm back in 2002.

2. Safety Bernard Pollard has become the Patriots’ nemesis. It was Pollard as a Kansas City Chief who hit QB Tom Brady on the knee last year, ending Brady’s season in week one. On Sunday he launched himself at Brian Hoyer, recovered a fumble for a touchdown, and caught the interception that set up the Texans’ winning score.

3. Keeping with the scoring theme, New England’s defense gave up 21 points in the fourth quarter. The Patriots finished 1-6 in road games, not including the game played in London, England. Terrible. Just plain terrible.

4. A tip of the hat goes to CB Darius Butler as he had his first career interception return for a touchdown, off a pass that went through the hands of Texans receiver Jacoby Jones. Expectations for Butler next year will be high.

5. Brady was sacked for the first time in 162 pass attempts after a four game streak without getting sacked.

6. It wasn’t much, but Hoyer looked decent in limited play, completing 75 percent of his passes for 71 yards. He led a 10-play 66-yard drive that resulted in a game-tying field goal just before halftime.

Extra Point: Two teams in particular I didn’t want to see in the playoffs. Pittsburgh was one, Baltimore was the other. This will be a battle on Sunday.