Texans defeat 49ers
By Elwyn Henderson
The 2-4 Houston Texans hosted the 5-2 San Francisco Forty-Niners Sunday at noon to begin a 3-game home stand over the next three weeks.
San Francisco won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. Eddy Pineiro kicked off for San Francisco. Damien Pierce returned the ball from the 8 up to the 28 and CJ Stroud led the struggling Texans offense on the field for their first possession of the day.
The Texans drove down to the Niner 15 and facing a 4th and 2 Ka’Imi Fairbairn came in and booted a 33-yard field goal to put Houston on top 3-0 with 5:21 left in the first quarter. The drive was 16 plays, 67 yards and took 9:39.
Fairbairn’s kick after the score was taken at the 6 by Brian Robinson and he returned the ball up to the 34 where Mac Jones brought the visitors out for their first possession of the day.
The Houston defense forced a punt after a couple of penalties and Thomas Morstead punted the ball away. Houston took over at their 12 after the kick with just 3:37 left in the opening frame.
Stroud led the offense down to the San Fran 16 as the first quarter came to a close and Houston was facing a 4th and 4 to begin the second quarter. Fairbairn booted a 34-yard field goal to end the drive and Houston led 6-0 with 14:57 left in the first half. The drive was 9 plays, 71 yards and took 3:40.
The ensuing kickoff was returned to the 25 and Jones brought the visitors back on the field for their second possession of the game.
The Houston defense forced a three-and-out and Morstead punted the ball down to the Houston 18 where it was fair caught and Houston went back on the offensive once again.
The third time was a charm as Stroud led the Texans into the end zone for their first TD of the game with 7:32 left in the first half. Fairbiarn added the extra point and the H’Town men led 13-0. The drive was 10 plays, 82 yards and took 5:53 off the second quarter clock.
The next San Francisco drive began at their 35 after Fairbairn’s kickoff failed to reach the landing zone before going into the end zone.
The Texans defense forced another three-and-out and after another punt and a 14-yard return Houston set up on their 20 and went back on offense.
The home team moved the ball down to the Forty-Niners 19 where the drive stalled thanks to a holding call, resulting in Fairbairn coming in for a 37-yard field goal try. The kick was good and Houston advanced their lead to 16-0 with 58 seconds left in the first half. The 62-yard drive took 11 plays and consumed 4:54 of clock time.
After the kick following the field goal San Francisco returned the ball to midfield and a 15-yard face mask penalty cost Houston another 15 yards, setting the Niners up at the Houston 35.
It took just 4 plays and 33 seconds for the visitors to find the end zone for the first time. Jones hit George Kittle for a 17-yard TD with 25 seconds left in the half. After the extra point kick the Forty-Niners were back in the game and trailing 16-7.
Houston set up at their 29 after a short return with 17 seconds left in the half. A deep pass by Stroud was intercepted on the second plays and returned to the Houston 30 before the half came to a close.
San Francisco received the second half kickoff and set up shop at their 40 but the defense did the job and forced a punt that set Houston up at their 6 for their first possession of the second half.
In their best drive all season, Stroud led the team the 94 yards into the end zone in 12 plays and 6:07. The drive ended with a 30-yard TD pass to Xavier Hutchinson with over 7 minutes left in the third quarter. The extra point was good and Houston led 23-7.
San Fran responded on their next possession when Jones hit Jake Tonges on 1 2-yard TD pass with 28 seconds left in the third quarter, wrapping up a 12-play, 76-hard drive that consume 7:01. Jones hit Demarcus Robinson for a 2-point conversion after the score and the Forty-Niners were back to within 8, trailing 23-15.
Houston knew they needed a sustained drive on their next possession to both drain time off the clock and to pad the lead and try to put a final nail in the coffin to get the upset win and they managed to just that. Stroud led the team on a 10-play, 58-yard drive that took 5:47 off the clock and resulted in a 30-yard Fairbairn field goal with 9:41 left in the game, giving the Texans a 26-15 lead.
San Francisco knew they HAD to have a touchdown on their next possession if they wanted a chance to come back and claim the road win. They advanced the kickoff from their 3 to their 32 to begin the drive.
Houston’s defense forced another three-and-out and things were looking good for the upset win to become a reality for Houston. Unfortunately, the offense went three-and-out. Fortunately, a 52-yard punt by Tommy Townsend was downed at the SF 1 with 4:12 left in the game.
Jones went into a hurry-up mode and moved his unit down the field until Kamari Lassiter intercepted Jones at the 1 with 1:56 left in the game, putting the final nail in the Forty-Niners coffin.
Coming out of the 2-minute warning timeout the Texans began at their 1. They were not able to pick up a first down but did force San Francisco to use their final timeout and Townsend came on to punt the ball away with 1:02 left in the game.
The punt went out of bounds at midfield with 53 seconds left in the game and Jones came out hoping to hit a quick TD pass to give his team a chance. On first down he was sacked for a 10-yard loss. Second down was an incomplete pass with 19 seconds left on the clock. The third down play was a 7-yard completion to the 47 with 15 seconds left, bringing up a 4th and 13. The next play was short of the line to gain and the ball turned over on downs to Houston with 9 seconds left in the game. Stroud took a knee from victory formation and the game was over the Texans moved to 3-4 with the 26-15 win while the Forty-niners dropped to 5-3 with the loss.
When Coach DeMeco Ryans met with the media after the game he began his presser with an opening statement thanking Jesus.
“Really thankful as always. It’s not about us. Any time you get this opportunity, just make sure I give glory where it’s due and that’s our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for continuing to bless us over and over again. It’s nothing we’ve done to be blessed, but we got it. We’re thankful for the grace and the love that we’re shown. I’m just proud of all of our guys for the way they showed up and played today. A truly complete game starting with the offense, the way we ran the football, controlled the line of scrimmage. I thought our offensive line did a great job. We were able to control the ball for 41 minutes, which is huge for us. We ran the ball well. [QB] C.J. [Stroud] had an outstanding game. All around, you talk about really good offensive performance. The guys did a great job.”
The Mirror asked Ryans if the win alleviated any pressure off the team.
“I don’t have any pressure on me. We’re in the NFL. Every week is a tough week. We’re going to celebrate this win because we got a win versus a gritty, tough football team. The ‘Niners’ [San Francisco 49ers] are great. Even though they are missing a lot of top guys still they found a way to pull it together, play a great game and we knew that was going to be the case. We didn’t fall into the trap of who they didn’t have. [San Francisco 49ers Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan] has those guys prepared every single week. Our game plan was to go out and execute the way we know how to execute, and the guys did that. I’m proud of them for that.”
When CJ Stroud came in for his press conference after the win the Mirror asked him how much confidence the win gives the team going into next Sunday’s game against the 6-2 Denver Broncos.
“I think we give ourselves a chance each week we keep winning. This is a long season. It’s a marathon; it’s not a sprint. If we keep stacking, who knows. We can do whatever we put on the field. I think today was a step in the right direction. Now I’m going to go home, relax, get a little bit away from the game. Then tomorrow I’m back at it, rolling, and back on my preparation. You’ve got to be able to enjoy wins, but also take the momentum, take the rhythm and keep rolling with that.
Houston will return back to NRG Stadium next Sunday when they host the Denver Broncos in a noon contest. IF they can get the victory they will get back to .500 for the year and move to 4-4 which is something that absolutely MUST do if they want to start building for a 2025 playoff spot.