HOUSTON — Make that six wins in a row for the Houston Texans.
But Sunday, it was Houston’s offense that outshined its No. 1-ranked defense as the Texans thumped the Arizona Cardinals40-20.
It was Houston’s second-highest scoring output of the season, and was led by quarterback C.J. Stroud, whothrew for 260 yards and three touchdowns, and running backJawhar Jordan, who was called up from the practice squad over the weekend and ran for 101 yards.
“Our operation was really great today, starting with C.J.,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “I thought he did a great job managing the operation pre-snap, in and out of the huddle. He did an outstanding job today.”
Houston moved to 9-5 after starting 0-3 and now sits seventh in the AFC and one game back of the first-place Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC South. The six-game win streak is the third longest in the NFL this season.
“We’re getting hot at the right time,” Stroud said. “We’re starting to trend up towards December, going into January. We got to keep this going. But it’s one-game-at-a-time mentality, one-play-at-a-time mentality.”
Against the Cardinals, the Texans got unlikely help from Jordan, whofilled in after starter Woody Markssuffered a foot injury in the first quarter. Marks returned shortly after the injury but sat out most of the second half. Jordan took full advantage, becoming the first player to debut with 100 rushing yards since Elijah Mitchell in 2021 with the San Francisco 49ers. He became the Texans’ first 100-yard rusher this season and the second player in Texans history with 100 rushing yards in his NFL debut (Ben Tate in 2011), according to ESPN Research.
“I just wanted to prove to my team I could be reliable,” Jordan said. “It was just a blessing to get an opportunity to show up.”
Sunday marked the first game that Jordan, a 2024 sixth-round pick, was active. He was cut after training camp in 2024, then was re-signed by the Texans but spent the season on the practice squad. He also was on the practice squad to start this season after getting cut following training camp again.
Even during the season, Jordan was waived by the Texans from the practice squad late in October. He was re-signed in November and eventually got his opportunity to shine when he was called up this weekend on a standard elevation.
Ryans decided to hold Marks out for precautionary reasons and wanted to “keep rolling with those guys.”
“Woody could have come back in the game,” Ryans said. “He got his ankle tweaked a little bit there early in the game. For where he was, felt like Jawhar and [running back] Dare [Ogunbowale] were doing a good job, so wanted to make sure Woody is good as we continue to go into the week … Jawhar did an outstanding job for us, for the young man to come in for his first game, to have a debut like he had.”
During this winning streak, the Texans’ defense has received a lot of praise as it’s ranked No. 1 in the NFL in points allowed per game (16.2). On Sunday, Houston held an opponent to under 21 points for the 12th time, most in the NFL. It did allow Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett to throw three touchdowns, the first time the unit allowed a quarterback to do that all season.
Ryans admitted postgame the defense’s performance didn’t meet expectations.
“We left a lot of the plays out there,” Ryans said. “We have to keep playing up to our standard. That’s what we judge ourselves against, the standard. The standard is the standard. It doesn’t change. So, we’ll continue to look at the tape intently and see where we can get better.”
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