The Houston Texans moved to 7-4 and further separated themselves atop the AFC South with a 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Monday night. Coming out of the locker room in the second half, these two Texas clubs were within a touchdown of each other. However, the second half saw the Houston defense step up in a major way, shutting out the Dallas offense and putting points on the board themselves en route to the win.
In the early going, Houston didn’t waste much time flashing their explosiveness. While a 77-yard touchdown catch and run by Nico Collins was called back on the first play of the game, it set the stage for what was to come. Just a few plays later, the Texans had another chunk play with Joe Mixon breaking off a 45-yard touchdown run, his first of three scores on the night. The game did bog down after that, however, with a botched fake punt by Dallas followed up by back-to-back interceptions by each offense.
The two sides then went score-for-score, first with matching touchdowns before each netting a field goal to make it a 17-10 game. The Cowboys nearly cut the touchdown deficit into just a four-point lead, but an uncharacteristic missed field goal by Brandon Aubrey from 40 yards out stalled Dallas’ scoring opportunities for the rest of the first half.
Aubrey took center stage in the third quarter after he netted a 64-yard field goal, but a penalty against the Texans erased that impressive kick and kept the drive alive. Dallas would eventually get it down to the Houston 8-yard line, where it was faced with a fourth-and-2 situation. Mike McCarthy kept his offense on the field but it failed to convert, turning the ball over on down while keeping the deficit at double digits.
The Texans defense would continue to be stout down the stretch, particularly in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. Derek Barnett was able to strip-sack Cooper Rush and eventually pick up the loose ball, returning it 28 yards for a touchdown. That extended the lead to 17 and effectively slammed the door shut on the Cowboys.
Mixon finished his contest with 109 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 20 carries. He also had two receptions for 44 yards in the winning effort. He was the catalyst of the offense, while C.J. Stroud completed 23 of his 34 throws for 257 yards and an interception. Meanwhile, Rush completed 32 of his 55 pass attempts for 354 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
For more on how this game unfolded, check out our main takeaways below.
Why the Texans won
Houston got out to an early lead thanks to some chunk plays. In all, the Texans had five plays that went for 20 or more yards in the win, including a 45-yard touchdown run by Joe Mixon on the opening drive of the game. That allowed the Texans to play with a lead for the entire night, and Mixon was the straw that stirred the drink throughout.
While the offense looked disjoined at times — converting just four of its 12 third downs — Mixon and his three rushing touchdowns and 153 total scrimmage yards helped keep the unit humming. Meanwhile, the defense owned the second half, consistently pressuring Rush and even adding points itself thanks to the Barnett strip-sack and scoop-and-score. Danielle Hunter was also a key cog in that defensive effort in shutting out Dallas over the final two quarters, accounting for two of the team’s five sacks.
Why the Cowboys lost
If Cooper Rush is dropping back 55 times, something has gone wrong, and that was certainly the case with the Cowboys on Monday night. While Rush played well, putting the ball in the hands of a backup to that degree certainly wasn’t the plan for Mike McCarthy, but Dallas’ hand was forced in a number of ways. First, it found itself almost instantly in a double-digit deficit to begin the game, which slotted it into a pass-heavy game script. On top of that, the Cowboys continued to struggle running the football, as they totaled just 64 yards on the ground. Even when this was a one-possession game, Rico Dowdle wasn’t running the ball effectively at all, accounting for just 2.3 yards per carry in the first half and finishing with 28 yards on the ground on 10 carries for the game.
With Dallas almost exclusively dropping back, that allowed the Texans pass rushers to begin teeing off on Rush. They took him down for five sacks on the night (all coming in the second half) and tallied seven total pressures. One of those sacks resulted in a back-breaking fumble that was returned for a touchdown (which you can see below).
Turning point
With less than five minutes to play in the third quarter, the Cowboys cut into the Texans 10-point lead after Brandon Aubrey connected on a 64-yard field goal. However, a 15-yard penalty on Houston took that score off the board and extended the drive. Dallas would then go from the 46-yard line all the way down to the Houston 8-yard line, where it faced a fourth-and-2 situation. McCarthy kept the offense on the field, but Rush’s throw fell incomplete, resulting in a turnover on downs and keeping the Cowboys down by double digits while chewing precious time off the clock.
Play of the game
With Dallas still lurking as the game shifted into the fourth, the Texans defense came up clutch. With the ball at the Dallas 40-yard line, Barnett strip-sacked Rush and eventually scooped up the loose ball and brought it all the way back for a touchdown. That increased the lead to 17 points and eliminated what little hope remained of Dallas getting back into the contest and pulling off the upset.
What’s next
From here, the Texans will head back to NRG Stadium, where they’ll gear up for a Week 12 head-to-head against their AFC South rivals in the Tennessee Titans. As for the Cowboys, they’ll have a quick turnaround before heading on the road to face the Washington Commanders.
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