Houston takes on Baltimore next week

HOUSTON – The Houston Texans won their first playoff game in franchise in history with an overwhelming 31 -10 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on
Saturday. The record home crowd of
71,725 was incredibly noisy, helping the Texans to regain their potent offense and return to
winning form.

Next weekend the Texans travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens in the
Divisional Round of the playoffs. That
game will be played on Sunday at noon Central.

Texans owner Bob McNair said, “It was a wonderful win for us; just like
coach told the guys after the game. We just went back to playing the way
we have been playing earlier in the year. Everybody taking care of their
job and playing a clean game and that’s the kind of result we can get when we
do that. It was nice to us get back on track.”

Not only was this the first franchise playoff game, it was the first NFL
playoff game played in the city of Houston since 1994. The fans had waited for a long time, and they
let out all their frustration upon the Bengals.

“I could look up in the stands and nobody had left the stands. They were
all standing and cheering, and were happy. That’s a great pleasure,”
McNair said.

The Texans made sure the fans got what they wanted. The Texans’ defense registered four sacks on
Bengals QB Andy Dalton, picked off three interceptions and scored one
defensive touchdown.

It was that touchdown that seemed to turn the tide of the game. Rookie defensive end J.J. Watt pulled down a
Dalton pass and returned it for a 29 yard touchdown in the second quarter. From there on it was all Texans.

Arian Foster, who started the game looking shaky fumbling twice and not
getting too much on the ground, ended up with 153 yards and two touchdowns on 24
carries. Wide Receiver Andre Johnson,
whose quest for the playoffs added an emotional push for his teammates, had a
40 yard touchdown catch from rookie QB T.J. Yates.

Johnson credited the fans for setting the tone, “The atmosphere that they
had today in the stadium was awesome and it is something that all the guys talk
about during the week. They say can you imagine how it’s going to be in
the stadium, how loud it is going to be? When a crowd is pumped like
that, the team feeds off it and that is a tribute to them [fans]. They also
helped contribute to this win,” Johnson said.

The Texans got off to a shaky start falling behind to the Bengals 7 – 0 by
the middle of the first quarter. After
that the Texans went on an amazing 31 – 3 scoring run for the remainder of the
game.

“We played the football that we had been playing when we were winning, and
that’s what we were after,” Kubiak said. “I told the guys I really thought we
kind of needed to go through our last three weeks… needed to kind of be humbled
from the standpoint of what we’re not going to be able to get away with if
we’re going to win during this month. I think it really helped us.”

Kubiak said, “We came back, played error-free football from the turnover
standpoint, got turnovers and ended up running the ball well before the day was
over. It was the key to us winning.”

Arian Foster was the first Texans to cross the goal line with an eight yard
touchdown run that capped a six play, 80-yard drive.

“I’m just elated, excited and happy to bring this city a playoff win that’s
been thirsty for a playoff win for years.
To be part of that, it just feels good,” Foster said.

The Bengals got the ball and three plays later J.J. Watt picked off
Dalton. Watt rushed Dalton and behind
the line of scrimmage he reached out and plucked a Dalton pass out of the air
the ran it back 29 yards for a score that lit up the fans and the Texans.

“We have knocked down a lot of balls this year and we have come so close to
grabbing a couple of them. It’s funny, you work all year, doing it and
knocking it down, and all of a sudden you hang on to one of them,” Kubiak
said. “But he’s (Watt) been
exceptional. He’s played like a four- or five-year player. That was
a huge play because it gave us a lot of momentum going into halftime and we
came out in the second half and played good football.”

Texans linebacker Brian Cushing agreed that Watt’s interception was the
game-changer, “I think it changed the momentum completely of the game. Going ahead like that, 17-10, really getting
fans into it – that was the first turnover of many, and it sparked a lot of
excitement.”

From that point Yates hit Johnson for a touchdown and then Dalton threw two
interceptions. One to former Bengal
Johnathan Joseph and then on the Bengals’ next possession, Danieal Manning
picked Dalton.

It only took the Texans three plays to see Foster run for a 42 yard touchdown
on a third and seven.

Next week will be the Texans’ biggest challenge of the year as they travel to
M&T Bank Field in Baltimore to take on the Ravens. The Texans dropped a game in week 6 against
the Ravens in Baltimore and overall the Ravens are 8 – 0 at home.

“We know what we’re facing going down there.
They have been an excellent football team all year long. You have to go
play at their place; I think they are 8-0 at their place this year in the
regular season,” Kubiak said. “So, we understand, we went there earlier
in the season and we’ll have to play as good as we can possibly play. But
we took a step in the right direction. We’ll go to work have a good week,
and we expect to play well.”

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading …

About Ethan Edwards

Ethan Edwards is the Senior Writer for
TheCypressTimes.com.

Edwards’ work focuses on topics ranging from
Christian opinion, national news, world news,
Christian Persecution and politics.

• Mail

|

• Web

|

• More Posts (178)