If you want to see why the Houston Texans could be such a dangerous team in the playoffs, their first half against the Los Angeles Chargers provided a perfect example. Houston leads Los Angeles 14-3 through two quarters behind a big-play offense and an overwhelming, overpowering defense.

The juxtaposition of the two teams can be seen in both offense’s third play of the game. On the Texans’ third play, C.J. Stroud lofted a perfect deep ball to rookie Jayden Higgins, who ran past a completely busted Chargers coverage for a 75-yard touchdown, the longest by a rookie in franchise history.

On the Chargers’ third offensive play, Danielle Hunter came around the edge to sack Justin Herbert, who got up favoring his surgically repaired left hand. The Texans got the ball back and needed just four plays to score again, this time a 43-yarder from Stroud to his other rookie wide receiver out of Iowa State, Jaylin Noel.

Stroud became the first player with a touchdown pass of 40+ yards on each of his team’s first two possessions of a game since Drew Brees in 2010.

The Chargers defense started to make amends in the second quarter. Derwin James picked off Stroud and the offense was able to turn that into a field goal.

The Chargers got another terrific chance ahead of halftime when Herbert launched a majestic 60-yard completion to Quentin Johnston. But on the very next play, Herbert’s pass to Oronde Gadsden II bounced off the tight end’s hands, and Azeez Al-Shaair caught the redirect.

The half had two more twists, though: Stroud threw another pick, this time to Elijah Molden. The Chargers still couldn’t find the end zone. Stunningly, though, they couldn’t even get a field goal: Cameron Dicker missed a 32-yard field goal. 

Stick with us for second-half updates below!