{"id":676182,"date":"2026-01-14T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/676182\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T09:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:00:17","slug":"texans-secure-first-road-playoff-win-with-suffocating-defensive-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/676182\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans secure first road playoff win with suffocating defensive performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans finally won a road playoff game after dropping their first six with a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019ll hit the road again for a divisional matchup at New England where a win will put them in the AFC Championship Game for the first time in franchise history.<\/p>\n

The Texans relied on their suffocating defense on Monday, highlighted by two defensive TDs to get the 30-6 win on a night quarterback C.J. Stroud struggled with turnovers. It was a franchise-record 10th straight victory and puts Houston in the divisional round for a third straight season.<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s defensive performance against veteran Aaron Rodgers was the best in a postseason game in franchise history and one of the best in a playoff game in decades. The 175 yards and six points they allowed were the fewest in franchise history and it was the first time they hadn\u2019t allowed a touchdown in a playoff game.<\/p>\n

Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins returned a fumble 33 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to make it 17-6 and Calen Bullock\u2019s 50-yard interception return wrapped up the scoring with about 2\u00bd minutes to go. They are the first defense since 1950 to score two touchdowns and limit a team to less than 200 yards in a postseason game.<\/p>\n

They became the first defense since the 1940 Chicago Bears to score multiple defensive touchdowns without allowing a touchdown in a playoff game. Houston is also the first team since 2007 to have a fumble return for a touchdown and an interception return for a score in a single playoff game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an outstanding defensive performance, one of the best that I\u2019ve seen versus a really talented offense, talented quarterback who has played at a high level for a long time,\u201d coach DeMeco Ryans said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to pick from here, but Houston\u2019s stellar pass rush was the biggest star of Monday\u2019s game. The Texans got after Rodgers all night, sacking him four times, hitting him 12 others and forcing two fumbles. Defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter led that charge, combining for 15 quarterback pressures on a night Houston generated a 44.7% pressure rate. They did it despite rarely blitzing and sticking to a four-man rush.<\/p>\n

Hunter forced a fumble and Anderson caused the fumble that Rankins returned for the score.<\/p>\n

Stroud must clean up his mistakes after fumbling five times, losing two of them and throwing an interception. The quarterback and center Jake Andrews seemed not to be on the same page Monday night and two of his fumbles came on errant snaps and one came when he wasn\u2019t ready for the snap and it bounced off his chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some problems with the snaps, me catching them,\u201d Stroud said. \u201cGot to find a way just to catch them and take care of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

WR Christian Kirk had eight receptions for 144 yards \u2014 both career-highs \u2014 with a touchdown to lead the offense. His 144 yards receiving are the most in a playoff game in franchise history and he\u2019s the third player in team history to have at least 100 yards receiving and a score in a game.<\/p>\n

The performance comes after a difficult regular season where the eight-year veteran had a career low 239 yards receiving in his first year with the Texans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him it\u2019s not easy being in the year he\u2019s in not having the production stats-wise,\u201d Stroud said. \u201cFor him to keep going week in and week out, prepping the right way, to see it pay off was really dope. Super proud of him and just keep it going with him and he\u2019s a heck of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

TE Dalton Schultz had just 12 yards receiving after he had 73 yards receiving last week.<\/p>\n

Pro Bowl WR Nico Collins is in the concussion protocol after hitting his head hard on the ground on an incomplete pass in the third quarter. \u2026 Special teams player Justin Watson is also in the protocol after being injured Monday night.<\/p>\n

7 \u2014 The Texans had seven different players with a tackle for loss Monday night.<\/p>\n

67% \u2014 Houston converted 67% of its third downs against the Steelers, which is the highest conversion rate in a playoff game in franchise history.<\/p>\n

The Texans look to limit their offensive mistakes and continue their defensive success on Sunday when they meet the Patriots in the divisional round for the third time. Houston lost at New England in that round in both the 2012 and 2016 playoffs and is 0-6 all-time in divisional games.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON — The Houston Texans finally won a road playoff game after dropping their first six with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2056],"tags":[98572,1101,7,221,253,2368,6,498,9,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-676182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-98572","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-texans","13":"tag-houstontexans","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-football","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}