The Texans defense controlled the Cowboys on Monday night.
Houston triumphed on the road, 34-10, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington to push its AFC South-best record to 7-4 in 2024.
The defense finished with five sacks, an interception, a pair of forced fumbles, six tackles for loss and just 10 points allowed.
A turning point in the game, though, came early in the fourth quarter when defensive end Derek Barnett strip-sacked Cowboys' quarterback Cooper Rush. The fumble was recovered by offensive lineman Tyler Guyton, who was promptly popped by safety Jalen Pitre. Guyton fumbled the ball away, and Barnett scooped it up and sped to the left front pylon of the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown.
It turned a 10-point lead into a 27-10 advantage, and the Texans were able to cruise from there.
"Derrick Barnett, the play he made really changed the game for us," Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans said. "It flipped the momentum. It got everybody juiced up on the sideline. It was just a huge play. Something we talk about and we harp on is attacking the football. We talked about it this week: not just attacking it, but going to score. So that was a huge play for us defensively."
In the second quarter, the Cowboys kicked a field goal with 5:55 remaining to cut the Houston lead to 17-10. They wouldn't score again, as their next eight possessions resulted in a missed field goal, three turnovers on downs, two punts, a fumble and the end of the game.
While the offense scored it's first second-half touchdown since October, Ryans was more focused on the defense doing what it did after the intermission.
"To shut them out in the second half, that was more of a bigger deal to me than us scoring the touchdown," Ryans said. "It's just about us coming out, playing with the right energy, executing and finishing the proper way. That's what finish looked like. If we want to continue to progress and move forward and play good football, we have to finish second halves."
