HOUSTON -- J.J. Watt swatted away passes, Arian Foster ran away from tacklers and the Houston Texans did just enough to knock Cincinnati out of the playoffs for the second straight year.
Matt Schaub made his postseason debut a successful one when Foster’s 1-yard touchdown in third quarter helped the Texans to a 19-13 AFC wild-card playoff win over the Bengals on Saturday.
Now comes the big test. The Texans (13-4) move on to the second round on Jan. 13, when they visit the New England Patriots at 3:30 p.m. on CBS. The Patriots beat them 42-14 in Week 14.
Shayne Graham kicked four field goals for the Texans, while Foster finished with 140 yards and became the first NFL player to have 100-yard games in each of his first three playoff games. Watt finished with a sack and swatted away two of Andy Dalton’s pass attempts, once wagging his finger at the Bengals quarterback after the play.
The Texans had trouble finishing drives and managed three field goals in the first half against the Bengals (10-7). Houston struck first after the break, with Foster scoring the game’s only offensive touchdown to make it 16-7.
Schaub, who missed last year’s playoffs with a foot injury, had an interception returned for a touchdown by Leon Hall before halftime.
‘‘It was never easy,’’ Schaub said. ‘‘Cincinnati is a great team. I made a turnover and gave them points. We just had to rally around each other and we did that.’’
Cincinnati…0 7 3 3--13
Houston…3 6 7 3--19
|First Quarter|
Hou--FG S.Graham 48, 7:49.|
|Second Quarter|
Hou--FG S.Graham 27, 13:07.
Cin--Hall 21 interception return (Brown kick), 9:30.
Hou--FG S.Graham 22, 2:19.|
|Third Quarter|
Hou--Foster 1 run (S.Graham kick), 10:31.
Cin--FG Brown 34, 7:48.|
|Fourth Quarter|
Hou--FG S.Graham 24, 14:17.
Cin--FG Brown 47, 9:03.|
A--71,738.
|Cin Hou
First downs…12 24
Total Net Yards…198 420
Rushes-yards…16-80 39-158
Passing…118 262
Punt Returns…3-12 2-14
Kickoff Returns…6-156 2-47
Interceptions Ret.…1-21 1-14
Comp-Att-Int…14-30-1 29-38-1
Sacked-Yards Lost…2-9 0-0
Punts…5-46.6 3-42.0
Fumbles-Lost…1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards…5-51 7-55
Time of Possession…21:11 38:49
|INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS|
RUSHING--Cincinnati, Green-Ellis 11-63, Dalton 4-15, Leonard 1-2. Houston, Foster 32-140, Martin 1-16, Schaub 4-1, Tate 2-1.
PASSING--Cincinnati, Dalton 14-30-1-127. Houston, Schaub 29-38-1-262.
RECEIVING--Cincinnati, Green 5-80, M.Jones 3-34, Hawkins 2-15, Gresham 2-7, Green-Ellis 2-(minus 9). Houston, Daniels 9-91, Foster 8-34, Johnson 4-62, Walter 4-26, G.Graham 3-29, Casey 1-20.
MISSED FIELD GOALS--None.
