Derek Barnett forced the first fumble and returned the second for a touchdown, making a key defensive play for the Houston Texans in their 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night.
Joe Mixon continued his strong performance, rushing for three touchdowns, and C.J. Stroud didn’t have to do much to help the Texans extend the Cowboys’ struggles.
Mixon’s touchdowns extended his streak of games with a touchdown to six, since returning from an ankle injury. Barnett’s fumble return for a 28-yard touchdown helped seal the victory, as the Texans beat the Cowboys by 24 points.
With the win, the Texans improved to 7-4 and stopped their second two-game losing streak in Stroud’s two seasons. The Texans are now two games ahead in the AFC South division.
Houston pulled away in the second half, a week after their 26-23 loss to Detroit. In that game, they had led 23-7 at halftime but lost after intercepting Jared Goff five times.
“It’s not as bad as it ever seems, and it’s never as good as it ever seems,” Stroud said. “Those type of games, you have to come out with a win, especially going up like that the half. But what are we going to do about it?”
For the Cowboys (3-7), things seemed to go wrong from the start. A piece of debris fell from the retractable roof at their AT&T Stadium a few hours before the game. While there was no delay or injuries, it was just another sign of a tough night ahead for Dallas, who suffered their fifth consecutive loss.
Cooper Rush, filling in for injured quarterback Dak Prescott, threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin but still couldn’t prevent his second loss as a starter. The Cowboys’ losing streak has now reached seven games, their longest since 2015, and they are still winless at home this season at 0-5.
According to Sportradar, Dallas is the first NFL team in history to trail by at least 20 points in six consecutive home games, including a wild-card playoff loss to Green Bay last season.
“Well, they better be frustrated,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “I mean, we’re all frustrated. I think there’d be something wrong if they weren’t frustrated. So just very honest with everything and stay in tune with what’s right in front of us. And that’s the only way I’ve ever done it.”
The Cowboys were already down 10 points early in the fourth quarter when Barnett knocked the ball out of Rush’s hands while he was throwing. Dallas rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton caught it, but Jalen Pitre knocked the ball loose again.
Barnett recovered the fumble and ran it back for a touchdown, though he nearly stepped out of bounds along the way.
“The play he made really changed the game for us,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It flipped the momentum. It got everybody juiced up on the sideline. It was just a huge play.”
Earlier in the game, the Cowboys thought they had closed the gap to just a touchdown after a 64-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey, but Barnett was penalized for slapping Terence Steele on the rush.
The Cowboys erased the points by taking the penalty, but on the next drive, Rush’s fourth-down pass from the Houston 8-yard line was incomplete, ending their best scoring chance in the second half.
“The defense played with elite energy,” Ryans said. “One big play that we gave up. Like to have that one back, but overall I think our guys played really well.”
Texans receiver Nico Collins returned after missing five games with a hamstring injury. He caught a screen pass and sprinted 77 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game, but the touchdown was called back due to an ineligible receiver penalty.
The Texans scored anyway, with Mixon running 45 yards up the middle for a touchdown, followed by another 1-yard touchdown run from Mixon to put Houston ahead 14-0. Mixon finished with 109 yards rushing and also had a 37-yard catch-and-run that set up a field goal.
“I really love that first play because it showed what we could do in this game,” Ryans said. “Even though it got called back, I just told all our guys, ‘We can go score on these guys again. Just get it in your mind we’re going to score again.’”
The Cowboys, already without Prescott, also lost tight end Jake Ferguson to a concussion. Offensive linemen Zack Martin and Tyler Smith both went down with ankle injuries, and Rush was sacked five times, including three on the same drive when Martin and Smith were hurt.
Stroud, who had been struggling recently, threw for 257 yards while avoiding any mistakes after an early interception on a fourth-down pass.
It was his third game in the last five without a touchdown pass, and in that stretch, he has thrown two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Rush finished 32 of 55 for 354 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Turpin had three catches for 86 yards.