The Stars at Night: Texans Defeat the Cowboys In Overtime of the “Battle for Texas”

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good song. I sing loud and off key all the time. And when I can’t sing, I hum off key just to keep the melody in my head. Some will tell you that music can calm the savage beast. Well on Sunday night in Houston, Texas, there was a song that caused all Texans in attendance to sing very loud and definitely not on the right note or key. “The stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas,” blared through the speakers at NRG park and the sold-out crowd could not have been happier.

The Houston Texans defeated the Dallas Cowboys 19 – 16 in overtime, in the interstate rivalry that comes around every four years and gets both fanbases from their respective cities to talking trash to one another. That win was huge for the Texans as they are on a two-game winning streak with an up and down team in the Buffalo Bills coming into town.

“It’s big man, I’m happy for the City of Houston, for the Texans, the staff, the owners, just everybody. Like I said this is a big win not just for us, but for the City of Houston. Cowboys are America’s No. 1 team and for us to go and win at home, it’s very big for us. We needed that win. I’m happy,” said Jadeveon Clowney who is second on the team in tackle for losses (6).

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Photo Courtesy of Rudy Hardy – Spring Branch Sports

Deshaun Watson had another outstanding game, going 33-of-44 passes (75.0%) for 375 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a 98.2 passer rating. He has now thrown for 375-or-more yards and rushed for 35-or-more yards in three consecutive games, which marks the longest streak in NFL history. But it was his amazing throw for 49 yards in overtime to outstanding wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (NFL leader in receiving yards) that set up the game winning field goal and caused mass hysteria throughout NRG.

“I mean that’s D-hop (Hopkins). He’s a playmaker. He’s one of the best – if not the best – receivers in the NFL, so we rely on him. In those situations, he came up big and makes plays whenever we need them. That was a situation where we needed to make a play and I threw it up for him to make a play and he did what he had to do. He did a great job of getting us down there into field goal range and making sure that he protected the ball and he did what he did,” Watson said after the game with a huge smile on his face.

Houston’s defense played an amazing game against the Cowboys and stalled the league leader in rushing Ezekiel Elliott to only 54 yards. That’s way below his average of 106.5 coming into the game.

“They were very active up front moving around, a lot of line stunts, and they did a great job against our run game,” the disgruntled Cowboys running back said.

Houston will look to keep its winning streak alive against the Buffalo Bills this Sunday at NRG. Kickoff is at 12 pm.