The Ravens needed two wins to take the AFC North title when Wednesday’s game in Houston got underway and they are halfway to picking up the first of them.
Derrick Henry ran for a touchdown, Isaiah Likely caught another one and the Texans offense was unable to score any points in the first 30 minutes of action. The result is a 17-2 Ravens lead on the road.
Henry has 15 carries for 94 yards, but the Texans were able to get one key stop against him in the second quarter. Cornerback Kamari Lassiter dropped Henry for a safety and the Texans’ ensuing drive got them all the way to the Ravens’ 4-yard-line while they were still down 10-2, but Joe Mixon was stopped short of the end zone on a fourth down and Lamar Jackson hit tight end Mark Andrews for a 67-yard a few plays later.
It was Andrews’s longest gain from scrimmage since his rookie season and it set up Likely’s score a short time later.
The Texans had two more possessions before the halftime break. One ended with a break and the other saw quarterback C.J. Stroud leave for one play after taking a big hit from Odafe Oweh. Stroud returned for one snap before the end of the second quarter, but one has to wonder how much longer he’ll be in the game. The Texans have clinched the AFC South and will almost certainly be the No. 4 seed in the AFC, so it’s not worth risking Stroud’s health in a game that has felt even more one-sided than the score would suggest.
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