Battle Red Blog
The Texans have had a lot of different types of games this season. They’ve had the low-scoring thrillers, improbable comebacks, and they’ve had surprise upset performances. But, one thing that eluded the a Texans for the majority of this year was having a complete game. A game where you left feeling good about the offense, defense, and special teams. Today, the Texans had a complete game.
Minus some late-game theatrics from the Arizona Cardinals offense, this was a 60-minute beatdown orchestrated by the Texans. QB CJ Stroud got the celebration started early with a 57-yard catch-and-run touchdown to WR Nico Collins, echoing last week’s start to the Chiefs’ game.
That touchdown was quickly followed up by a short field goal drive after Cardinals returner Jalen Brooks coughed up the football on the kickoff return. After that, the whole Texans team was hot, forcing the Cardinals to a three-and-out on their first possession and then responding with yet another touchdown, capping off their third scoring drive of the quarter with a muffed snap sending the ball straight through Stroud’s legs and into RB Woody Marks’ hands, who would punch it in to score. Up 17-0, this first quarter would end up being the most points Houston has ever scored in a quarter in franchise history, and the most ANY team scored in just 9-minutes of game time this season:
Unfortunately, this hot start wouldn’t bleed into the 2nd quarter, at least not completely. Woody Marks would leave the game with the ankle injury and not return, replaced by backup RBs Dare Ogunbowale and Jawhar Jordan. Despite missing Marks, the offense would continue to shine as CJ Stroud diced up the Cardinals defense, hitting TEs Dalton Schultz and Cade Stover over and over for modest gains. They weren’t the only tight ends balling out in this game though; Arizona TE Trey McBride, one of the NFL’s very best, showed up to play this game and didn’t disappoint. Arizona got their first touchdown of the game in the 2nd quarter thanks to QB Jacoby Brissett feeding McBride, who finished the game with over 130 yards and two touchdowns.
Two field goal drives later, and the Texans were leading the Cardinals 23-7 at halftime. A great first-half performance by the Texans, but for many fans, the only thing you could think of entering the third quarter was: don’t choke! Please, don’t let the Texans turtle up in the second half and give Arizona a lane back into this game! For a brief moment, it looked like the Texans defense might do just that in the third quarter, but an end-zone interception by Kamari Lassiter (his 4th INT of the season) killed that comeback attempt and gave the ball right back to Houston’s offense. Then, RB Jawhar Jordan EXPLODED for a 50-yard game, ripping the soul out of Cardinals fans everywhere:
In his first NFL game, Jawhar Jordan would finish with 15 carries for 101 yards, doing an exceptional job of filling in for Woody...
