The Houston Texans were unable to bounce back in Week 2 as they fell to the Cincinnati Bengals at home by a score of 20-6.
The Houston Texans matched up with the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon, which resulted in a 20-6 win for the Bengals in Week 2.
With that said, let's take a look at how the game unfolded on Sunday and what enabled the Bengals to pick up the win.
In this game, the scoring started off pretty slow as the Texans and Bengals punted the ball multiple times in the first quarter which showcased the ability of each of these defenses.
It is important to note that the Bengals did have a field goal opportunity as quarterback Joe Burrow drove the Bengals down the field, but offensive lineman Dalton Risner committed a false start penalty, which pushed it back and resulted in the final punt of the first quarter.
The very next drive, quarterback CJ Stroud led the Texans down the field and put Houston in a position to attempt a field goal, but on the field goal the Texans fumbled the snap and were unable to get any points.
Following that, the Bengals punted again and then Houston had a solid drive where they drove down the field, but on fourth and short running back David Montgomery was tackled in the backfield and the Texans turned it over on downs.
After the turnover on downs, Burrow connected with wide receiver Tee Higgins multiple times to get the ball down the field, and then Burrow made a very impressive throw to wide receiver JaMar Chase to put Cincinnati on the board and take a 7-0 lead.
On the next drive, Stroud was able to spread the ball around and get the ball down the field, which got the Texans into the red zone, but Houston was unable to punch it into the endzone, so Ka'imi Fairbairn came out and hit a 37 yard field goal to cut into Bengals lead to four with the Texans now trailing 7-3.
On the final two drives of the half, the Bengals punted and then the Texans were unable to get anything going which ended the first half with Cincinnati leading Houston by a score of 7-3.
To start the third quarter, the Texans could not move the ball so they were forced to punt the ball back to the Bengals.
Then, Cincinnati drove down the field and kicker Evan McPherson hit a 51 yard field goal to extend the Bengals lead to 10-3.
On the next drive, Stroud led the Texans down the field, but unfortunately, Fairbairn just barely missed a 58-yard field goal.
Following the missed field goal, the Bengals took advantage as Burrow marched the Cincinnati offense down the field and threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Chase to extend the Bengals' lead to 17-3.
The Texans were able to respond after the Bengals' touchdown as Houston moved down the field and put Fairbairn in a position to hit a 45-yard field goal, which cut the Cincinnati lead to 17-6.
After that, the Bengals added more cushion to their lead as Burrow led the Bengals on a solid drive that ended in McPherson hitting a 57-yard field goal, which put Cincinnati up 20-6.
Then, the defenses for both sides shined as the Texans and Bengals both punted twice, which was then followed by the Texans turning it over on downs.
After the turnover, the Bengals ran the ball three times, which forced the Texans to use the rest of their timeouts and led to Cincinnati punting the ball back to Houston.
On Houston's final drive of the game, the Texans were unable to move the ball which resulted in a turnover on downs.
Following that, the Bengals took a knee to wind out the clock which gave them the victory over the Texans by a final score of 20-6.
In this game both defenses played well, but ultimately Burrow and the Bengals moved the ball a bit more than Stroud and the Texans which now has Cincinnati at 2-0 and Houston at 0-2.
Heading into Week 3, it will be interesting to see how the Texans respond and if they can get into the win column, and if the Bengals can continue to be perfect and potentially win their third straight game to start the year.
