5 plays that decided the Texans’ win over the Titans — and maybe the AFC South too

The Texans stole the show on Monday Night Football with an explosive 34-17 win over the Tennessee Titans. It was a huge game for both teams — the Titans had a chance to crawl back into the AFC South race and hold the tiebreaker over the Texans, while Houston needed the win to take a commanding lead in the division.

The Titans scored the first 10 points of the game, but the Texans quickly took control and put on an offensive showcase that featured three touchdowns from Deshaun Watson and a 97-yard touchdown from Lamar Miller. Marcus Mariota was almost flawless in the game, but wasn’t enough for the Texans. Mariota completed 22 of his 23 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns — his first incompletion didn’t come until there was 1:06 left in the game.

Here are the five plays that defined the game and put the Texans firmly in the driver’s seat for a division crown.

On the Titans’ second drive of the game, they created an easy touchdown by leaking second-year tight end Jonnu Smith into the middle of the field after he faked a pass protection look. Smith caught it without any Texans defenders within a few yards.

The Titans took an early lead in the game, but it was all Texans after this point — partly due to the Titans’ own incompetence. Later in the game, the Titans asked Smith to one-on-one block J.J. Watt, which predictably failed.

Marcus Mariota, Derrick Henry, Dion Lewis, Corey Davis — all acceptable options for the Titans when they just need one yard. Instead they handed the ball to Luke Stocker, who didn’t stand a chance against the Texans front seven and got stuffed for a turnover on downs.

Going for it in that situation probably wasn’t a bad idea, but handing it off to Stocker, who had zero career rushing attempts before that play, didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The Titans could have taken the lead with a touchdown on the drive. Instead, it was the turning point of the game.

On the very next play, the Texans handed the ball to Lamar Miller on their own 3-yard line and he took it the distance for a 97-yard touchdown — which wasn’t even the first time he’s had a run that long. Back when he was a member of the Miami Dolphins in 2014, Miller had a 97-yard run against the Jets that looked pretty familiar to the one he had against the Titans.

That touchdown pushed the Texans’ lead to 21-10 and they never looked back. Miller joined Browns running back Nick Chubb, Steelers wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster, and Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper as the other offensive players with 90-yard touchdowns this season.

Deshaun Watson took a gamble while the Texans were up 27-17 in the fourth quarter. On second-and-8 on the Titans’ 46-yard line, Watson bolted up the middle of the field after evading a sack for a large gain.

It looked like Watson might have fumbled the ball, but the referees ruled him down by contact and upheld the ruling after Mike Vrabel threw a challenge flag.

During the broadcast Joe Tessitore said that he spoke to Al Riveron, the NFL’s head of officiating. Riveron said the call on the field was upheld because Watson was able to hold control of the ball even though it moved in his hands as he was going down.

Two plays after the fumble, Watson connected with Demaryius Thomas for his second touchdown of the game to put the Texans up 34-17.

The Texans have now won a franchise-record eight games in a row after starting the season 0-3. The Titans fall to 5-6 and behind the second-place Colts in the AFC South.