FOXBOROUGH – Well, it was most definitely a preseason game at Gillette on Thursday night.

The Patriots and Texans kicked off the exhibition slate in the rain and boy, oh boy, it was ugly.

Houston won a backup-riddled game 20-9, but it’s hard to rake much away from this one given who was playing and just how depleted the Pats’ offensive line unit is right now. There were some standout performances from young defenders and Malik Cunningham sent the crowd home happy with a late electric TD, so it wasn’t a completely lost night.

“Good to get that first game under our belt there,” said Bill Belichick postgame. “Certainly, there’s a lot of things we can improve in. I thought there were some positives in the game. We’ll take a look at the film here and take a little closer look at it, but defensively, we played pretty competitively. Offensively, too many long yardage situations, couldn’t throw on third down. Didn’t have much to show for our offensive efforts until the last drive of the game. Good to see those guys compete out there, but it was just a step in the process here.

“We’ll get back to work here tomorrow and keep grinding forward.”

After a Dan Ekuale sack on second down following one Houston first down to open the game, Jalen Mills came up with a pick of CJ Stroud, taking it back to the Houston 24. A run for Strong, a dump off to Strong and a sack of Bailey Zappe followed. New England settled for a 44-yard field goal from Nick Folk for the first points of 2023 a little over five minutes in.

Keion White, Ekuale, Anfernee Jennings and Sam Roberts did a fantastic job getting pressure on Stroud the next drive and forced a punt, giving Zappe and the offense the ball back at the New England 12. The highlight of the ensuing Patriots’ drive was a 27-yard third down leaping grab by Tyquan Thornton, but New England eventually needed to punt and Bryce Baringer pinned the Texans at their own 12 with less than two minutes to go in the first.

Davis Mills took over the third series for Houston and eventually the Texans punted back to the Pats early in the second quarter. Jennings nearly had a sack during the drive if not for a holding call, continuing his impressive night. Zappe was back out – somewhat surprisingly – for another drive but quickly went three-and-out. White’s big night continued when he was in on a tackle, helping to force a fumble that was recovered by Calvin Munson with 8:29 left in the half at the Texans’ 49.

Zappe was back out once again and once again, the offense went three-and-out due mostly to the patchwork offensive line that’s still getting all the work for now. The punt fest continued and Houston gave New England the ball back at its own nine with a little over five minutes to go in the half but the offensive line woes continued with old friend Chase Winovich getting a third down sack to force another Baringer boot. Seven plays and 62 yards later, Tank Dell made a pretty ridiculous sliding catch in the end zone for the game’s first TD and a 7-3 Houston halftime lead while also holding the Pats to just 65 yards of total offense.

Zappe was back out for the first drive of the third quarter and the offense showed a little life, getting out close to midfield before Kevin Harris was stuffed on a 4th-and-1 attempt, turning it over on downs. Case Keenum took over for the ensuing Houston drive and a handful of snaps later, former Patriots’ tight end Dalton Keene scored on a fullback drive from the one to make it 13-3 after a missed PAT.

Trace McSorley finally made his Pats debut and was quickly bailed out by two Houston penalties, wiping out a third down sack, but a punt soon followed as the offensive line continued to leave the QB’s out to dry. The teams traded punts again until another Winovich sack deep in Pats territory sent us to the fourth with the Texans up 10. Houston made it a 20-3 game with under 10 to play on a five yard TD on 4th-and-2 as Keenum rolled out and found Alex Bachman at the front left pylon.

Malik Cunningham – who got a ton of reps during the latter stages of the week in practice – made his NFL debut at QB with 9:52 left in the game and quickly made his presence felt with a handful of impressive gains on designed runs. Eventually after a 4th-and-2 conversion from Pierre Strong deep in Texans’ territory, Cunningham put a ridiculous juke on a defender for a nine-yard TD run just after the two minute warning. A two-point attempt failed, leaving the score at 20-9.

The Pats may or may not practice this weekend (TBD at the time of this story) before heading to Green Bay for joint practices and the second preseason game against the Packers next week.