HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Houston\u2019s defense got its first shutout in almost 15 years and the offense did the rest Sunday against the Tennessee Titans to give the Texans their first win of the season.<\/p>\n
Rookie Woody Marks had a touchdown reception and ran for another score in the 26-0 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we go out and execute the right way that\u2019s what it can look like,\u201d coach DeMeco Ryans said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been there. We just haven\u2019t played clean football.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the third time the Texans have shut out a team and the first time since blanking the Titans 29-0 on Nov. 28, 2010. The Titans were shut out for the first time since a 16-0 loss at Denver on Oct. 13, 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get a shutout, which doesn\u2019t happen much and hasn\u2019t happened much here, I\u2019m very proud of those guys for the effort that they showed today,\u201d Ryans said.<\/p>\n
C.J. Stroud threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns as the Texans scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter Sunday to put the game away and match their TD total in the previous three games combined.<\/p>\n
The Texans (1-3) led 6-0 after two first-half field goals, but neither team got into the red zone until a 17-yard grab by Nico Collins put Houston on the 12 on the last play of the third quarter. Stroud connected with Marks for a TD on the next play, but the 2-point try failed to leave the Texans up 12-0.<\/p>\n
Derek Stingley picked off rookie first overall pick Cam Ward on the next drive and returned it 20 yards. The Texans cashed in on that mistake when Stroud threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to rookie Jayden Higgins to push the lead to 19-0 with about 9 1\/2 minutes to go.<\/p>\n
An 18-yard touchdown run by Marks, a fourth-round pick from USC, made it 26-0 with less than five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Marks believes his versatility has helped him succeed early in his NFL career.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatching the ball out of the backfield, making the defense kind of don\u2019t know what you\u2019re gonna do,\u201d he said. \u201cHe can run it in between the tackles, outside, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. I think that\u2019s a big plus for the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marks had 69 yards rushing and 50 yards receiving.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just a playmaker and you get playmakers the ball,\u201d Collins said. \u201cWe know what type of guy Woody is and that he can make plays in the biggest moments and you seen what he did. We all seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stroud said he enjoyed watching Marks play in college and that they utilized him in a similar way Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he was really elusive, really crafty, I thought he did a good job since those days in the Lincoln Riley offense,\u201d Stroud said. \u201cToday we kind of used him in that light, spread him out, give him some familiarity running the ball on some plays that he\u2019s ran before, and he\u2019s very dynamic pass catcher.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a great performance by the Texans, but they did plenty to take care of a Tennessee team that hasn\u2019t got its offense going this season despite the addition Ward. He was 10 of 26 for 108 yards with the interception.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point we have nothing to lose,\u201d Ward said. \u201cWe dropped a quarter of our games, and we have yet to do anything, so we have to lock in, especially myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss drops the Titans to 0-4 and extends their skid to 10 games going back to last season to tie their longest losing streak since moving from Houston to Tennessee in 1997. Their previous 10-game skid came when they dropped the final 10 games of the 2014 season.<\/p>\n
Three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons, who along with Amani Hooker is the longest-tenured player on the roster, is frustrated that the Titans haven\u2019t improved this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re playing bad football,\u201d he said. \u201cSimple, we\u2019re not playing good football right now, and I\u2019m tired of hearing the same thing coming into the locker room, and I\u2019m tired of saying it, we gotta play better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second-year coach Brian Callahan falls to 3-18 and is certainly on the hot seat as the Titans continue to struggle.<\/p>\n
Ka\u2019imi Fairbairn made field goals of 47 and 43 yards in the first half to give the Texans the lead. He missed from 54 yards on Houston\u2019s first drive of the second half before the offense got moving late.<\/p>\n
The Titans had chances to get on the board in the first half, but Joey Slye missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt on Tennessee\u2019s first possession and his 43-yard attempt at the end of the first half was wide right.<\/p>\n
Hunting sacks<\/strong><\/p>\n Danielle Hunter sacked Ward two times and four other players had hits on the rookie, who has been sacked 17 times this season.<\/p>\n Hunter has four sacks this season to give him 103 1\/2 in his 10-year career.<\/p>\n Up next<\/strong><\/p>\n The Titans visit Arizona next Sunday and Houston travels to Baltimore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Houston\u2019s defense got its first shutout in almost 15 years and the offense did the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":262741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[32614,262,4345,2505,1232,106073,9007,358,50647,3187,50347],"class_list":{"0":"post-262740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-c-j-stroud","9":"tag-defense","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-shutout","14":"tag-tennessee-titans","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-touchdown","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-woody-marks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115285269769265481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}