In a season where the Houston Texans now sit at a somewhat perplexing 7-4, they did get to check off one huge “never been done before in franchise history” on Monday night. A month after beating the Patriots in Foxboro for the first time ever on the road, the Texans finally crossed “beat the Cowboys in Arlington” off their bucket list, with a sometimes sloppy, but ultimately beautiful 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
While this game on Monday will get the “plenty to clean up after a win” treatment, ultimately the Texans accomplished the main goals of the fan base, which were (1) end the team’s two game losing streak, and (2) leave the Dallas Cowboys for the roadkill that they’ve become in their own stadium. The Cowboys now sit at 0-5 at home this season, and coming into Monday, their average margin for loss was 23.7 points. That held up to a tee in this game.
The Texans now sit at 7-4, and with each passing week, their second straight AFC South title looks like an inevitability. Let’s look at some winners and losers from Monday night:
WINNERS
4. Traveling Texans
Back in 2014, the Houston Texans played the Dallas Cowboys early in Bill O’Brien’s first season as the head coach. The game was at noon on a Sunday, and ultimately the Texans would lose a close one, but the story of that game was the invasion of Texans fans on AT&T Stadium. The volume from Texans fans was to the point where Tony Romo needed to use a silent count on offense. From all accounts, the Texans fans invaded AT&T Stadium in a similar fashion on Monday night, which is even more impressive considering it’s a work/school night. Much respect to my fellow Houstonians for ignoring hard work and their kids’ education. You go, Traveling Texans!
3. Nico Collins
It’s no secret that this recent patch of shoddy football coincided with the absence of Collins due to a hamstring injury. The Texans had been 4-1 with Collins in the lineup, and 2-3 without him. Not only did Collins’ presence aid in getting back on the winning track, but he looked fantastic physically. He only finished with four catches for 54 yards, but he had what would have been a 75 yard catch and run on the first play of the game, had there not been a penalty on (you guessed it!) Laremy Tunsil. The return of Collins is massive for this team.
2. Derek Stingley, Jr.
On a night with a lot of huge individual performances, I thought Stingley was, at a minimum, the best defensive player on the field, if not the best player overall. He was able to secure his second interception of the season, had an opportunity for at least a couple others. Also, Stingley tackled extremely well in this game, including a huge third down tackle of CeeDee Lamb on a crossing route on a third down play. Stingley has put two great weeks of tape together on national TV the last couple games, which should pay dividends when to comes time to pick for the Pro Bowl and All Pro honors.
1. Joe Mixon
It’s scary to think of where this team would be without Mixon’s leadership and his Pro Bowl level of play on the field. When this team has needed a jolt, they’ve continually leaned on Mixon throughout the season, and on Monday night, Mixon was able to go over the 100 yard mark again, and scored three touchdowns, including a 45 yard scamper on the first series of the game, which helped atone for Tunsil’s penalty on the Collins nullified touchdown.
LOSERS
4. Flying sheet metal
Apparently, the good event management folks with the Dallas Cowboys were all ready to go “roof open” at AT&T Stadium, which makes sense for a nationally televised game, with a blimp flying overhead. It’s a spectacle! So they opened the roof during the day, in advance of the game, and one problem reared its ugly head — the wind. Apparently, the stadium has withstood enough wear and tear to where pieces of sheet metal become detached in a strong wind. Also, apparently, a piece of sheet metal came crashing down before both teams took the field for pregame warmups. Someone could have been killed. Thank God it happened with an empty field. Get your stadium in order, Jerry.
3. Juice Scruggs
There isn’t a ton to nitpick at individually in the “loser” category, but there were a few rough snaps for Scruggs tonight, who for the second straight week, had a holding penalty deep in the red zone, which shut down a Texans drive. Scruggs also had a few rough snaps in pass protection, where Cowboys defensive lineman were just running past him on a dead sprint at C.J. Stroud. Scruggs does not look completely comfortable at left guard right now.
2. First half killer instinct
The Texans led this game 17-10 at the half so again, I don’t want to nitpick, but there were multiple instances where the team allowed an inferior team to hang around, despite building a 14-0 lead. The Texans were unable to take advantage of the short field the Cowboys left them after a failed fake punt. Also, the Texans defense allowed a long catch and run for the Cowboys only touchdown of the game, in a game where the Cowboys proved they couldn’t string a long drive together with, say eight to ten plays. Finally, after getting a gift of a missed field goal by Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey, with 58 seconds left in the half, the Texans went three and out and only burned 13 seconds off the clock. Thankfully, their killer instinct showed up in the second half, but the first half had some rough patches.
1. Jerry Jones
Jerry Jones paid his quarterback the highest amount of money in the history of the sport. Jerry Jones paid his lead receiver nearly the highest at that position. His team is now 3-7 on the year. Jerry Jones built a Taj Mahal of a stadium that was raining sheets of metal onto the field before last night’s game. Jerry Jones is going to be firing his head coach, whose players appear to have quit on, after the season. My point? Aside from his bank accounts, now is not a great time to be Jerry Jones.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
