Photo: Getty Images
Opening thoughts....
Texans 30 Bengals 27
The Bengals dug a hole, rallied back, had a chance to win it, but Matt Ammendola kicked a 38-yard field goal at the gun to win it. The Bengals see their four game winning streak snapped and fall to 5-4. Next: Thursday at Baltimore.
What happened:
Trailing 20-7 late in the 3rd quarter, the Bengals scored 10 points in about three minutes to make it 20-17 entering the 4th quarter. Joe Burrow was intercepted on consecutive 4th quarter drives to seemingly close things out. But Cam Taylor Britt intercepted CJ Stroud with about 4:00 left and Joe Mixon’s one-yard run made it 27-24 with 3:18 left. The defense held and the Bengals got it back at their own 29 with 2:10 left. Burrow hit Boyd for 64 yards to the Texans seven yard line with 1:53 to go. But the Bengals had to settle for a game-tying 33-yard FG when Boyd dropped what would have been the go-ahead TD with 1:42 to go. CJ Stroud then marched the Texans 55 yards on 6 plays. He converted a 3rd and 6 to the Bengals 46-yard line with :31 remaining and then hit Noah Brown, who broke multiple tackles and raced 22 yards to the Bengals 20 yard line to set up the game winner.
Offense:
Burrow: 27-40-347, 2 TD, 2 INT, 4 sacks…..QB rating 90.3. Two 4th quarter interceptions....two 4th quarter picks last season.
Tanner Hudson: 6-33. Five opening drive catches/including three in a row, 3rd & 8/4th & 3 catch.
Ja’Marr Chase: What back? 5-124, including a 64 yard TD, his longest catch of the season.
Joe Mixon: 11-46, 1-yard TD
Tyler Boyd. 8-117, two drops
Trenton Irwin: 2-54, 32-yard TD
Opening act: Burrow dropped a 32-yard/3rd & 7 dime to Trenton Irwin for an opening drive TD. 10 plays/75 yards. In celebration, Burrow dropped to a knee, motioned like he was drawing a bow and arrow and let fire.
Stalled out: After the game opening 75 yard TD drive, they punted five consecutive drives, including four straight three and out.
Defense:
Total yards: 544 yards……..356 passing, 188 rushing.
Torched much of the day. WR were 7-11 all day. Plenty of missed tackles. A step behind all day.
Allowed six straight drives into their own territory.
Two forced turnovers, including a red zone fumble, kept things from being worse.
DJ Turner’s pass break up on 3rd & 3 with 2:26 left at the Texans 31 gave the Bengals a shot.
The Rook: CJ Stroud 23-39-356, TD, INT, QB rating 87.1. He had seven completions of at least 20 yards.
Ground attack: The Texans rushed for 188 yards on 34 carries (5.5), despite missing leading rusher Dameon Pierce. Entered the game averaging 3.3 yards per carry and 86 yards a game.
Woah! WR Noah Brown torched the Bengals for 172 yards on 7 catches. The Texans were without leading receiver Nico Collins.
No points for you! Another red zone shutout when DJ Reader recovered a 1st QT 4th & 1 fumble by Stroud at the Bengals 11.
Break: The Texans lost a TD when WR Robert Woods was ruled to have stepped out of bounds in the back of the end zone before making the catch. They settled for a FG to lead 13-7.
Fumbles: Reader recovery at Bengals 9. Logan Wilson forced Stroud fumble, recovered by Mike Hilton at Bengals 31.
Sacks: 0.5 Wilson, 0.5 Hendrickson
CTB=INT: Cam Taylor Britt had 4 interceptions in his last five games.
Special Teams
Evan McPherson 50 yarder, game-tying 31 yarder with 1:33 left.
Miscellaneous:
From behind: The Bengals trailed 10-7 at the half. they entered not trailing since SEA opening drive (167:22):
About those injuries: The Bengals were without Tee Higgins and Sam Hubbard. The Texans were minus 8 players.
Opta Stats: The Bengals are the second team over the last 30 seasons to score a TD on their opening drive in five consecutive games in the same season. The other team to do so was the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 (six straight to end the season).
Per CBS, the Bengals had won 20 straight games when leading entering the 2nd quarter, the longest active streak in the NFL.
Wardrobe: Burrow wore his dad’s No. 16 Montreal Alouettes (CFL) jersey to Paycor.