The Texans snapped a three-game losing streak with a much-needed win on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
"I think our team's been through a lot," head coach Bill O'Brien said after the game. "I told them this morning if there was a team in this league that can overcome the adversity that they've been through, starting with the hurricane to the injuries we've had, to all the different things that we've had to deal with throughout the year, I think if there's any group of guys that can overcome that and play well, it's this group. We have a group of really high character guys, and I think that's what it says. It's one game at a time."
Despite committing two turnovers that the Cardinals converted into a pair of touchdowns, the Texans offense rallied in the second half to score three touchdowns, including two rushing scores by rookie D'Onta Foreman.
Tom Savage completed 22-of-32 passes for 230 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The Texans recorded their second game this season with two-or-more passing touchdowns and two-or-more rushing touchdowns in a game (Week 4 vs. Tennessee). Houston is the only AFC team to record multiple games with two-or-more passing touchdowns and two-or-more rushing touchdowns this season.
"I think it's just the leaders we have out there," Savage said. "(Quarterbacks Coach) Sean (Ryan) gave me a speech last night before the game that was just incredible. I will let him tell you. It's all about mental toughness out there and just blocking it out. I think the team kind of rallies around that. I am super proud to be apart of this squad because we have some leaders out there. This team never points the finger. We are always in it together. I think that's why we came out victorious."
Houston's defense forced two turnovers with Andre Hal and Eddie Pleasant intercepting Cardinals quarterback Blaine Gabbert. The Texans held the Cardinals to 3-for-10 on third down (30%) and under 60 rushing yards. Jadeveon Clowney recorded 2.0 sacks for a loss of 13 total yards, three tackles for loss and three quarterback hits in the win.
"We didn't want what happened to us last game happen this game," Clowney said. "We came into halftime saying, 'We're not letting this go, we're not letting this game get away from us like we did the previous game in the second half. So we're going to stick together, come out and be physical like it was a 0-0 game,' and we came out and did that to finish the game."
The Texans improve to 4-6 and will travel to Baltimore in Week 12 to face the (5-5) Ravens on Monday Night Football.
Check out photos as the Houston Texans took on the Arizona Cardinals at NRG Stadium.
