Lopsided matchup as Cardinal's disappointment continues.
The Arizona Cardinals went into NRG Stadium hoping to show some positive progress to end the season. That ended up not being the case as the Houston Texans rolled to a convincing 40-20 victory at home. The win extends Houston's winning streak, and they keep pace in the playoff race.
Houston's offense and defense controlled the narrative from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. Arizona continues to be inconsistent and raising more questions than answers as the season is coming to an end.
On just the second play from scrimmage for the Texans, quarterback C.J Stroud connected with his star receiver, Nico Collins for a 57-yard touchdown. Getting on the board and off to an early lead of 7-0 before the Cardinals could even touch the ball.
Arizona would shortly after turnover the ball that was recovered and returned for a touchdown by Houston's defense. Shortly after a Houston field goal that put them up 17-0 before the second quarter even began.
Houston Texans quarterback C.J Stroud had battled back from a mis-season injury and looked like the very star he had turned into before the injury. Stroud went 22 of 29 passing for 260 yards and three touchdowns.
The rookie running back for the Houston Texans, Jawhar Jordan ran for over 100 yards in his NFL debut.
Star tight end tried to give the Cardinals offense some spark by having a great individual performance, 12 receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
Jacoby Brissett had another consistent showing as well. However, Arizona's offense was not efficient enough and the Cardinals defense gave up too many big plays to come back from.
With the win, the Texans are now 9-5 and extending the winning streak to six games.
The Cardinals fall to 3-11 on the season, losing the last 11 out of 12 games.