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Written by Travis Pulver
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Saturday, 07 January 2012 18:19 |
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 Who dey say gonna beat them Bengals? That would be the Houston Texans, that’s who.
Sports fans in Houston have not had a lot to cheer about in recent years. It’s been over a decade since the Rockets have made it past the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Astros have become the red-shirted step-child of Major League Baseball. The Dynamo is apparently pretty good, but does anyone actually watch soccer?
This season the Houston Texans have been giving fans something to cheer for, and on Saturday you could probably hear the cheering from Reliant Stadium up in Baltimore as the Texans won their first playoff game 31-10 over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Wild Card game.
 “We got back to our type of football,” head coach Gary Kubiak said, “and that was the key.”
For the majority of the season fans had gotten accustomed to a hard-nosed running game augmented by one of the better passing games in the league along with what was the best defense in football. However, the last three weeks were anything but as the team dropped three in a row after winning seven in a row.
“I think they found out a lot about themselves the last three weeks,” Kubiak said of his team. “We tried to narrow our goals. After we won the division, we tried to narrow it and say, ‘Let’s go win a playoff game.’
Against the Bengals they had everyone back, but quarterback Matt Schaub and proved that they are going to be a force to be reckoned with this post season.
The offense was the picture of efficiency. T.J. Yates did led the team well completing 11 of 20 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown for a respectable rating of 97.7 on the day. Wide receiver Andre Johnson looked to be the picture of health catching five balls for 90 yards including a 40-yard touchdown pass late in the third to put the team up 24-10.
 Arian Foster did his part as well rushing 24 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns, but the hero-- or heroes-- of the game have to be J.J. Watt and the defense. They recorded four sacks on the day and three interceptions, the first returned by Watt 29 yards for what ended up being the go-ahead touchdown.
“It’s really one of those moments where it really couldn’t be any better,” Watt said. “Especially at that point in the game when we needed that play it’s really something special.”
The win gave the city of Houston its first NFL playoff win since the 1991 wildcard game between the now departed Houston Oilers and the New York Jets, 17-10.
Next week the Texans will try to bring the city its first road playoff game victory since the Oilers beat the Cleveland Browns 24-23 on Christmas Eve in 1988. It will not be an easy task to get a win against the Baltimore Ravens on their home turf. Houston lost back in Week Six to the Ravens, 29-14.
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Last Updated on Monday, 16 January 2012 01:51 |
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