C.J. Stroud passed for 356 yards, rushed and passed for a score, Devin Singletary had a career-high 150 yards rushing and a score, Noah Brown had a career-high 172 yards receiving, Matt Ammendola nailed the game-winning field goal and the Houston Texans defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 30-27 on Sunday at Paycor Stadium.
The Texans (5-4) have won back-to-back games for the second time this season and with the win it ends the Bengals' four-game winning streak they had entering Sunday. This is the second-straight game that Houston has won on the final drive.
After Cincinnati jumped out to a 7-0 lead, the Texans answered with a six-yard touchdown between Stroud and Tank Dell with 10:33 left in the second quarter. The duo connected six times for 56 yards and the score.
With 10 seconds left in the first half, Ammendola hit the first of three field goals for the day. The 45-yarder put Houston up 10-7 at the break.
This was a part of a stretch where the Texans outscored the Bengals 20-0 from the 9:43 mark of the first quarter until there was just three minutes left in the third quarter. A part of that was a 22-yard field goal by Ammendola and a six-yard run by Singletary, which made it 20-7 with 7:08 left in the third quarter.
Leading up to the second field goal by Ammendola, on 2nd and 4 from the Bengals 24-yard-line, Stroud stepped back, looked to his left and hit John Metchie III with a perfect back-shoulder pass on the sideline at the five-yard-line for a 19-yard completion with 11:03 left in the third quarter.
That pass pushed Stroud up to 243 yards for the day and into the NFL history books again. Stroud is the fourth NFL rookie quarterback to pass for at least 2,500 yards in his first nine career starts.
Stroud joins Justin Herbert (2,699 in 2015), Andrew Luck (2,631 in 2012) and Cam Newton (2,605 in 2011) as rookie quarterbacks to accomplish this feat.
After the Bengals cut into the Texans' lead with a 50-yard field goal by Evan McPherson and Ja'Marr Chase touchdown, making it 20-17, Stroud took over again in the fourth quarter.
Facing a 1st-and-Goal from the eight, Stroud saw an open green field in front of him where he took off and went untouched into the endzone with 1:47 left in the game, making it 27-17. This marked the first time in his career that Stroud has passed and rushed for a touchdown in the same game.
The Texans defense came up with two interceptions on the next two Bengals' drives drives in the fourth quarter as DeAndre Houston-Carter and Shaquill Griffin came up with picks, which kept them at bay.
After the Bengals tied the game with a Joe Mixon rushing score and a 31-yard field goal by McPherson with 1:33 to go, the Texans orchestrated once again another big-time drive, which was capped by a 38-yard game-winning field goal by Ammendola.
Ammendola finished perfect on field goals, hitting from 45, 22 and 38 and nailed all three of his extra points. Ammendola was elevated to the roster earlier this week off the practice week.
