WELCOME TO THE TAKEAWAY DEPARTMENT

On a day when they were facing a fast offense with a lot of firepower, the Texans went to work in the takeaway department, grabbing four, in a 20-12 victory that guarantees another winning campaign under head coach DeMeco Ryans.

Let's start with the last part of the that sentence. Ryans joins Bill O'Brien as the only Texans coaches to put together back-to-back winning campaigns to start their tenure; he remains the only one to produce a playoff team in his first season.

Back to this year, what the Texans are pulling off is no small thing. They are in a terrific spot with three games left in the regular season.

Today, they entered what we call 'The Gauntlet' – three games in 11 days, with a date against a hard-charging Miami team that was thinking of crashing the playoff party.

Tua Tagovailoa had been on a bit of a tear since his return from IR – his lowest competition percentage being 70 and a 4-1 record in the last five games prior.

He'd also gone 204 pass attempts without a pick. He left NRG stadium with a career-high-tying three interceptions, including two by Derek Stingley Jr. who sealed the win with a sensational grab in front of Tyreek Hill.

The Dolphins were playing without their starting tackles. That meant it was time for Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter to eat. They dined well with three sacks combined. Anderson had a strip sack that led to the first Texans touchdown. Hunter's second was a game-changer that forced a Dolphin 2^nd and 25 from deep in their end on their second to last possession.

The offense didn't exactly put up a stats-rich game but C.J. Stroud was sharp, making several surgical throws under pressure, hitting Nico Collins for two TDs. One of them was a mini-masterpiece, as he was escaping to his left in a goal-to-go and squared up in time to find the fourth-year wideout in the end zone.

This was Stroud's first game with a 100+ passer rating since Week 6 at New England. Even though the team yardage total was the second fewest for a win in the league this year, they scored when they needed to. Operating without Case Stover, who underwent an appendectomy this weekend, was likely a bit of a factor in having the ground game stall.

But the biggest takeaway is the takeaways. They got the four turnovers and converted a fake punt, which is just as good.

Now comes Kansas City, on the road. The first trip there since the 2020 opener. Nothing is easy in the NFL and the Texans need to keep improving if they are going to get to where they want to go.

Sunday was a big step in the right direction – entering 'The Gauntlet' with a win and building momentum at a time of year when you must have it.

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