The Houston Texans must be pleased with the way they're playing in 2024. Houston is 7-4 heading into Week 12 and is in firm control of the AFC South division. The Texans may not be as dominant as they were in 2023, but they are still a contender in the AFC. They also have a long Super Bowl window thanks to C.J. Stroud being on a rookie contract.
One Texans player who is making an impact on offense is running back Joe Mixon. The former Bengal had an impressive game against the Cowboys, scoring three touchdowns.
Head coach DeMeco Ryans praised Mixon for his strong play.
“Joe, when he's on, he's a force for us,” Ryans said via ESPN's DJ Bien-Aime. “The run game starts with our offensive line. I challenged them to play fast, play aggressive, I thought they did a really nice job. I really like the way we just kept churning it in the run game, and proud of the guys for stepping up to the challenge.”
Monday was Mixon's sixth straight game with a rushing touchdown. This ties a Texans franchise record that was set by former All-Pro running back Arian Foster during the 2011 season.
“I think everybody was dialed in on the game plan, and we came out here and executed for four quarters,” Mixon said. “It was a great thing to see the O-line pretty much go out there and impose their will. … It was a time in the fourth quarter when the [offensive line] was like, ‘Man, let's take it to these boys.' And I'm like, ‘s—.' I went to [Texans offensive coordinator] Bobby Slowik and I'm like, ‘Man, them boys trying to run it.'”
Texans roll past Cowboys in epic Monday Night Football victory
The Texans crushed the Cowboys 34-10 in a huge win on Monday Night Football. Houston was hungry for a win after barely losing to Detroit on Sunday Night Football in Week 10.
Houston's offensive line was a big reason for the decisive victory. Not only did they punch open plenty of holes for Joe Mixon to run through, they also kept QB C.J. Stroud clean for the entire game.
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“[They were] amazing, I was back there chilling a lot of times,” Stroud said. “I thought we mixed up the protections pretty well. Always things to clean up, but definitely took a step forward. That's what we wanted.”
Tackle Tytus Howard summed up the offensive line's performance quite well.
“We put it together in the pass game and run game. So that's something we can build from,” Howard told ESPN. “Just take these games and stack off of it for the rest of the season, we know what we got to do. It was like our best week of practice, all season, so you got to build on that.”
This is a huge development for a Texans team that is not considered to have a good offensive line. If they can continue to play well, the sky is the limit for the Texans.
