Watson guides Texans past Dolphins for fifth straightwin
Deshaun Watson matched his career high with five touchdown passes to lead the host Houston Texans to their fifth straight victory, 42-23 over the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night.
The Texans (5-3) have left their 0-3 start behind with their longest single-season winning streak since reeling off six victories in a row in 2012.
Watson threw touchdown passes of 13, 2, 73, 49 and 2 yards to give him 34 career scoring passes tomove ahead of Dan Marino (32) for second-most through in NFL history after 15 games.
Miami’s Brock Osweiler, who had one tough season in Houston after signing a $72 million contract in 2016, threw for 241 yards with an interception in his third straight start in place of injured starter Ryan Tannehill.
Kenyan Drake had a touchdown run and touchdown reception for the Dolphins (4- 4). They lost for the second straight week.
Rookie Jordan Thomas caught the first two touchdown passes of his career, DeAndre Hopkins had 82 yards receiving and two scores and Will Fuller added 124 yards receiving and a touchdown.
Texans running back Lamar Miller, who grew up in Miami and spent his first four seasons with the Dolphins, had 133 yards rushing and a touchdown for his sec- ond straight 100-yard game.
Houston led by 8 whenWatson threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Hopkins on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 35-20.
Watson found the speedy Fuller in front of the defense for a 73yard touchdown that leftHouston up 28-17 late in the third quarter. Itwas the longest touchdown pass ofWatson’s career and the longest reception of Fuller’s. Fuller has caught 11 touchdown passes in 11 career games with Watson.
The Dolphins used a 41-yard field goal to cut the lead to 28-20 with less than aminute left in the third quarter. That score came after a drive featuring a crazy 46yard pass by Osweiler . He threw the ball to Jakeem Grant, who lost it after being hit by two Texans defenders, but it sailed down the field and into the hands of DeVante Parker for the big gain.
A 58-yard run byMiller got the Texans to the 9-yard line early in the third quarter. Houston ex- tended the lead to 21-10 when Watson found Thomas again, this time on a 2-yard pass.
The Dolphins used some trickery later in the third quarter when Osweiler pitched a lateral to Danny Amendola, who threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Drake to cut the lead to 21-17.
Hopkins scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard reception with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, but his most impressive play of the night came on a catch that didn’t count. Hopkins reached back and grabbed the ballwith one hand andweaved it between his legs in the air before crashing to the ground. But it was brought back after he was called for pass interference.
The NFL fired down judge Hugo Cruz for inadequate performance, two people familiar with the firing told The Associated Press.
Cruz is in his fourth season as an NFL official. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the league has not publicly announced the move.
Cruz, a part of referee Carl Cheffers’ crew, was involved in a missed call in the ChargersBrowns game that led to a Los Angeles touchdown on Oct. 14. Chargers tackle Russell Okung falsestarted on the play and nothing was called. But he was fired for his overall work over a sustained period, not just for one specific play.
The NFL Referees Association said it would challenge the firing. BILLS’ MCCOY RETURNS TO PRACTICE » Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy is returning to practice on a limited basis as he makes his way back from a concussion.
McCoy suffered the injury early in Buffalo’s 37-5 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. It’s been a down year for McCoy and the Bills offense. Through seven weeks, McCoy has just 244 rushing yards and no touchdowns. He ran for 1,138 yards and six touchdowns last season. SEAHAWKS’ WRIGHT READY TO PLAY » When he first underwent knee surgery in mid-August, K. J. Wright targeted the Seattle Seahawks’ Week 3 game against Dallas for his return. The procedure was relativelyminor, and the amount of recovery time should have been sufficient for Wright to be able to play at least some against the Cowboys.
“I was running within two weeks,” Wright said. “But I think I went a bit too hard.”
It’s now Week 8 and Wright is finally set to make his season debut when the Seahawks travel to Detroit on Sunday. A month later than he expected, Wright’s return should help solidify a position that’s used four different players through Seattle’s first six games.