The atmosphere at Reliant Stadium was electric to say the least. Houston fans celebrated the city's return to playoff football with vigor. Texans fans are notoriously late entering the stadium despite pleas from Texans mothership to be in place before kick off. On Saturday, Texans heeded the pleas and the place was rocking.
The Bengals elected to defer at the coin toss giving the Texans the ball first. Jitters seemed bother both teams early on. On the first play, Arian Foster almost lost the ball and then he followed it up with a false start. Coach Kubiak replaced Foster with Ben Tate on the third play apparently to calm him down. Foster would reenter the game shortly there after. TJ Yates also appeared to have the jitters as his first passes were off target. The Texans ended up punting on the first possession.
When the Texans went over on defense, the crowd went to work too. The Bengals and Andy Dalton appeared to have some jitters too and ended up punting. On their second possession, aided by a 52 yard pass interference call on Grover Quin, the Bengals put up the first points to make it 7-0.
At this point I a little uneasy feeling. The Texans put a quick end to my uneasiness though. The Texans answered the touchdown on the ensuing possession. The key play was an Owen Daniels catch for 21 yard and a 15 yard roughing penalty added to end of the play. Set up at the Bengals 20, Arian Foster went to work. Three consecutive rushing plays for yards of 8, 4 and 8 for the TD. Foster definitely settled down by now.
The teams exchanged field goals and it appeared the half may end tied at 10. The Bengals still had time to move the ball and at least try to get into field goal range. In one instant the game changed in favor of the Texans. Dalton dropped back to pass and rookie JJ Watt snagged the ball right out of the air and returned it 29 yards for a TD. All I can remember is seeing him running the opposite direction and thinking "Please don't fall, please don't fall....touchdown!" As if the crowd needed nothing more to howl about, the play sent Reliant Stadium into complete pandemonium. For good measure, Watt sacked Dalton to end the half on an extremely high note.
From then on it was pretty much all Texans. The defense held star rookie AJ Green in check with 47 yards receiving. 1000 rusher Cedric Benson ran only for 14 yards on 7 carries. As the Bengals were throwing more to catch up, Benson sat on the bench for the other two backs which are considered better pass blockers. The Texans forced three Dalton interceptions. Offensively the Bengals were stuck in mud.
The Texans put up TDs in each quarter to make it a final of 31-10. In the third, it was a beautiful 40 TD pass to All Universe WR Andre Johnson. Johnson did a double move that faked Adam Jones out of his jock to get wide open for the reception. Foster finished off the scoring, with a 42 yard scamper down the sideline. The Bengals had an opportunity to knock him out of bounds but they didn't make much of an effort to.
Man of the Match
Arian Foster - 153 yards, 24 carries, 2 TDs
Without a doubt, Foster carried the team to victory. Having Andre Johnson back definitely took some defenders out of the box. Johnson proved a dangerous weapon with his 90 yards and a TD. But Foster was the work horse with 182 yards total offense.
Key Play of the Game
Obviously, JJ Watt's INT returned for a touchdown. With the score tied at 10 going into the half, Watt swung the momentum to the Texans in one quick play.
The Bengals elected to defer at the coin toss giving the Texans the ball first. Jitters seemed bother both teams early on. On the first play, Arian Foster almost lost the ball and then he followed it up with a false start. Coach Kubiak replaced Foster with Ben Tate on the third play apparently to calm him down. Foster would reenter the game shortly there after. TJ Yates also appeared to have the jitters as his first passes were off target. The Texans ended up punting on the first possession.
When the Texans went over on defense, the crowd went to work too. The Bengals and Andy Dalton appeared to have some jitters too and ended up punting. On their second possession, aided by a 52 yard pass interference call on Grover Quin, the Bengals put up the first points to make it 7-0.
At this point I a little uneasy feeling. The Texans put a quick end to my uneasiness though. The Texans answered the touchdown on the ensuing possession. The key play was an Owen Daniels catch for 21 yard and a 15 yard roughing penalty added to end of the play. Set up at the Bengals 20, Arian Foster went to work. Three consecutive rushing plays for yards of 8, 4 and 8 for the TD. Foster definitely settled down by now.
The teams exchanged field goals and it appeared the half may end tied at 10. The Bengals still had time to move the ball and at least try to get into field goal range. In one instant the game changed in favor of the Texans. Dalton dropped back to pass and rookie JJ Watt snagged the ball right out of the air and returned it 29 yards for a TD. All I can remember is seeing him running the opposite direction and thinking "Please don't fall, please don't fall....touchdown!" As if the crowd needed nothing more to howl about, the play sent Reliant Stadium into complete pandemonium. For good measure, Watt sacked Dalton to end the half on an extremely high note.
The Texans put up TDs in each quarter to make it a final of 31-10. In the third, it was a beautiful 40 TD pass to All Universe WR Andre Johnson. Johnson did a double move that faked Adam Jones out of his jock to get wide open for the reception. Foster finished off the scoring, with a 42 yard scamper down the sideline. The Bengals had an opportunity to knock him out of bounds but they didn't make much of an effort to.
Arian Foster - 153 yards, 24 carries, 2 TDs
Without a doubt, Foster carried the team to victory. Having Andre Johnson back definitely took some defenders out of the box. Johnson proved a dangerous weapon with his 90 yards and a TD. But Foster was the work horse with 182 yards total offense.
Key Play of the Game
Obviously, JJ Watt's INT returned for a touchdown. With the score tied at 10 going into the half, Watt swung the momentum to the Texans in one quick play.
Next up the Ravens in a divisional round match up. Go Texans! Bring on the Ravens!
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