Texans-Cowboys on 'Monday Night Football': What We Learned from Houston's 34-10 win

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1. Houston grinds out prime-time win. Houston got off to a hot start, then settled into a very underwhelming place for much of its Week 11 meeting with Dallas. The Texans can pat Joe Mixon on his shoulder pads for his contributions, because without him, the Monday night game would've lacked highlights. We knew Dallas wouldn't produce many (though the Cowboys did get one from KaVontae Turpin via a 64-yard touchdown reception), but the Texans lacked punch offensively for much of the night. Fortunately, Jalen Pitre and Derek Barnett teamed up to produce the best play of the night, with Barnett recording a strip-sack and Pitre rocketing his entire body into Cowboys offensive lineman Tyler Guyton, forcing a fumble that Barnett recovered and returned for a score. That play put the Cowboys to bed and eliminated any intrigue in a game that was already expected to be a blowout, but needed a big defensive play to become one. They all count the same, though.
2. Rush is better in second start, but not nearly good enough to win. Dallas didn't present a threat of any kind in its blowout loss to Philadelphia last week, which was also the team's first outing without Dak Prescott in 2024. The good news is that Cooper Rush was better in his second start, throwing for 354 yards and a touchdown, and stringing together enough drives to at least make this game interesting. The bad news is that Dallas asked him to throw 55 passes, failing to support him with a running game and expecting him to just make it work with CeeDee Lamb and Turpin. The two receivers finished with a combined 179 receiving yards and a score, but let's be honest, this offense isn't threatening most anyone right now. Unlike last week, that wasn't Rush's fault, but that also won't make Cowboys fans feel any better about the remainder of the 2024 season.
3. Texans' offense is still leaving points on field. Look, it wasn't pretty for most of Monday night. Save for a quick-strike scoring drive to open the night, Houston's offense remained disjointed, especially on third down (the Texans finished 3 for 11). C.J. Stroud still isn't being protected consistently, and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik seems to have lost his magic touch. And yet, the Texans are 7-4. Stroud still completed 23 of 34 passes for 257 yards, but didn't toss a touchdown pass and also threw a pretty ugly interception in the red zone. Luckily, they have Joe Mixon, who broke 100 yards on the night and scored three touchdowns on the ground. I have issues with how Houston handles its hurry-up attempts on third down, and when it tried it Monday night on third and a short 1, the call -- a sideline throw to Tank Dell -- was incredibly perplexing, regardless of the outcome (it failed). These things need to be fixed if the Texans hope to seriously contend beyond the dreadful AFC South.
4. Anderson's presence was missed. By the end of the game, the numbers obscured this observation, but early on in this contest, it was shocking to see how often Cooper Rush had time to throw. Without Will Anderson Jr., Houston struggled mightily to generate a pass rush, instead electing to play coverage and hope the front four would break through eventually. They did, recording five sacks on the night, but for about two and a half quarters, it was clear the Texans very much missed their reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year. Barnett and Danielle Hunter ended up covering up for Anderson's absence, combining for three of the Texans' five sacks, but their pressure rate still landed at 26.2% on the night. That won't fly against better teams -- just look at what happened last week against Detroit.
5. Cowboys continue miserable trudge to nowhere. Honestly, where does Dallas go from here? The sky is legitimately falling at AT&T Stadium, where the pregame descent of a metal piece of the facility's roof caused concern and forced officials to spring into action. We've already heard plenty about the Cowboys' issues with where the sun sets. They've lost their quarterback, they have at most two weapons in their lineup right now (Lamb and Turpin), and they aren't scaring anyone left on their schedule. Even Micah Parsons' return couldn't bring the defense out of its struggles, and with seven games left, there simply isn't much to look forward to for Dallas fans. Are coaching changes imminent? Perhaps. But before that happens, Cowboys fans are going to be forced to saddle up for more of these ugly outings in the final weeks of 2024. Perhaps they'll find their footing in two weeks against the Giants -- which, of course, will be far too late to save this season.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Texans-Cowboys (via NFL Pro): KaVontae Turpin reached a top speed of 22.36 mph on his 64-yard touchdown reception, the fastest speed by a ball carrier this season, and the fastest play by a Cowboys ball carrier in the NGS era (since 2016).

NFL Research: With Monday night's 34-10 loss to the Texans, the Cowboys have trailed by at least 20 points in six straight home games dating back to last season's Super Wild Card Weekend loss to Green Bay, which is an NFL record streak.