There was hardly any havoc being wreaked by the Houston Texans defense through the first 30 minutes of play on Monday night.
That changed dramatically as the Texans defense pitched a second-half shutout and Derek Barnett rumbled to a crazy 28-yard touchdown off a fumble recovery to lead Houston to a dominant 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
“Derek Barnett, the play he made, really changed the game for us,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said after the game. “It flipped the momentum and got everybody juiced up on the sideline. It was just a huge play.”
Barnett blazed around the blindside edge, stripping Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush, whose fumble was recovered by teammate Tyler Guyton. Guyton was then lambasted by Texans safety Jalen Pitre, causing another fumble that fortuitously bounced right into the grasp of Barnett. Without losing stride, the eight-year veteran sprinted to six points, turning a 10-point game into a rout.
“That’s amazing, especially, when the D-line gets to scoop it up and get the run in,” Texans receiver Nico Collins told NFL Network’s Jane Slater after the game. “There’s no better feeling. You see the guys jumping up and down on the sidelines. There’s nothing better to see when a D-lineman is running up and down the sideline. It gets the juice going and the energy going. That’s what we needed. The defense got that spark for us and got the win.”
Barnett afforded the defense its biggest highlight, but it was another stellar outing from Danielle Hunter that lit the fuse for a Will Anderson-less Houston defense that lacked punch in the first half but came out swinging in the second.
Hunter had his team’s only two pressures in the opening half, but in the second, the Texans harassed Rush at a 42.4 pressure rate and sacked him five times.
“We just made a few adjustments there with the D-line and D. Hunter, he cut it loose in the second half, did a really good job,” Ryans said. “I thought our guys did a better job just executing the stunts and everything that we were asking them to do. Switched up a few things, but they executed very well.”
A huge offseason signing who has made a massive impact, Hunter posted three tackles, two sacks and 10 QB pressures, bringing his NFL-high total to 72 pressures through 11 weeks, per Next Gen Stats. His total is 15 more than the closest player (Cincinnati Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson).
The hard-hitting Pitre (nine tackles) and Derek Stingley (interception), who continues to emerge as a top-tier cornerback, were among the others who combined to shut down the Cowboys’ pass heavy offense.
“When we got him last year, he showed his worth,” Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud of Barnett, a 2017 first-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles who was claimed by the Texans in November of last season. “There are a lot of plays that guys don’t see, but he’s taking on those pull in guards and seeing them back and making plays for his backers to be free. I thought Mario (Edwards) played well. I thought Danielle, Denico (Autry) and the whole D-line did. DB got some wheels though. I respect it for sure.”
Barnett’s touchdown broke the game open, as Houston took a 27-10 lead with 12:31 to go. With little more than three minutes to go, Texans running back Joe Mixon scored his third touchdown to make it a laugher.
Looking to end a two-game skid, Houston bested Big D in a big way, with a dominant defensive effort closing it out, much to the delight of its head coach.
“To shut them out in the second half, that was a bigger deal to me than us scoring a touchdown,” Ryans said. “It’s about us coming out playing with the right energy, executing and finishing the proper way.”