Down 17-3 on the road?

So what?

Fumble the ball away, throw a pair of interceptions?

No big deal.

Lose a starting right tackle and starting cornerback to injury.

Keep rolling.

The Texans stared down trouble, time and time and time again Sunday in Kansas City, and came away with a 7-point victory over the Chiefs.

"It's a wonderful feeling, to be able to deal with all the adversity," quarterback Deshaun Watson said. "The ups and downs. The flow of the game. To be able to keep fighting for 60 minutes. That's what we did. We never got discouraged."

Watson, who was picked off twice in the end zone at Arrowhead Stadium, shrugged off the mistakes and still tossed a touchdown, ran for two more, and completed 30-of-42 passes for 280 yards in the 31-24 victory.

"We kept fighting," Watson said. "We kept pushing. We kept encouraging. That's the biggest part of this locker room: everyone is always fighting until the end, regardless of what the score is saying. We kind of don't even look at the scoreboard. We play 60 minutes and we play every play."

Watson found receiver DeAndre Hopkins nine times for 55 yards on Sunday, and also hit him for a 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter. The duo connected on 4th-and-3 with less than two minutes remaining. They picked up eight yards on the play, and were able to line up in victory formation on the next two plays.

"We've been battle-tested before," Hopkins said. "So no one panics on this offense."

The defense came up huge in the win as well. Pat Mahomes started 22 games before facing the Texans, and the Chiefs averaged 34.5 points per game. Only one other team had held Kansas City to less than 26 points in those previous matchups.

After allowing 17 first quarter points, Mahomes and Kansas City mustered just seven more in the final three quarters.

"We knew there were certain things we had to do," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "We had to rush disciplined. Try to do as good a job as we could, covering the receivers to give our rush time to get home."

The Texans allowed just 53 rushing yards, and managed to pick off Mahomes in the end zone, and strip-sack him another time. Rookie Charles Omenihu swatted the ball free from the Kansas City quarterback just before the half, and linebacker Benardrick McKinney fell on the fumble.

"We're going to keep fighting," Omenihu said. "It doesn't matter what the score is. We're going to keep going, and going, and going, and not let up."

The Texans triumphed, but O'Brien was quick to point out that a few things need to be buttoned up in the weeks ahead.

"Guys were resilient today," O'Brien said. "Again, we've got a lot of things to work on."

The Texans are now 4-2, and will face the Colts on the road next week in Indianapolis.