The Houston Texans’ 39-37 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9 wasn’t simply their fourth victory of the year. The inter-conference encounter checked sundry boxes for a rebuilding team.
Houston played through injuries, rallied from deficits, had their rookie quarterback lead a game-winning drive.
C.J. Stroud hit receiver Tank Dell for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Texans the lead with six seconds remaining. After Houston secured their fourth win of the year, Stroud opined on what the win could do for the team.
“I think it’s something that can get us rolling,” said Stroud. “Momentum is everything in this league and in the game of football. We’ve got to ride this momentum and work really hard in practice this week. We weren’t perfect out there, though. We’re never going to be perfect, but we’ve got to clean up some things, got to run the ball a little better.”
The Texans were disastrous on the ground with 17 carries for 53 yards. Stroud’s arm was the conduit for success with 470 yards and five touchdowns.
“It’s a big-time win for us, and November and December is when you want to be playing your best ball,” Stroud said. “So, now we just want to upscale, uptrend and trailblaze into the playoffs, and, hopefully, get a chance to win the division and everything like that. We’ve got a lot of work to put in, though.”
The Texans’ next test is against the Cincinnati Bengals, who dusted the Buffalo Bills 24-18 on Sunday Night Football.
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