Texans clawed their way to a seventh straight win, a nail-biting 23-21 victory over the Raiders, proving clutch when it mattered most.
Although it wasn’t the dominant outing to get the win that the Houston Texans were expecting, they did enough to come out on top over the Las Vegas Raiders with a 23-21 final score that, once again, should never have been that close. But a win is a win at this point in the season, and the Texans remain the hottest team in the NFL, grabbing a home win that keeps them in the race to be one of the league’s best and on track to earn a playoff spot.
Houston’s defense, which has carried this team all year, got points on the board early with the Derek Stingley Jr. pick-six to make it 7-0. But Geno Smith hit standout tight end Brock Bowers for a touchdown to tie it up, and from there it turned into the kind of game where every time Houston looked like it might settle things, Las Vegas had an answer.
The next big breakout play came in the third quarter, when Ashton Jeanty ripped off a 60-yard touchdown that swung momentum back to the Raiders, who refused to die in this game and kept punching back. The Texans finally found the end zone on offense late, with C.J. Stroud orchestrating an 88-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown to Dalton Schultz. But again, the Raiders answered right away, and Jeanty broke another huge run, this time a 51-yard touchdown to pull Vegas within two.
From there, the Texans did what good teams do in ugly wins: they closed. Houston’s offense burned clock, strung together the kind of drive it needed, and ultimately that two-point lead held up. They didn’t even need a field goal or a touchdown to put it away. The clock did it for them.
The Texans have now won seven in a row, moving to 6-2 at home this season and improving to 10-5, which is phenomenal given the bumpy start to the year. Next week they’ll head on the road to take on the Los Angeles Chargers before hosting the Indianapolis Colts in the regular-season finale.