Raiders fall to Texans after blowing fourth-quarter lead.
Houston quarterback puts full talents on display as he leads club to come-from-behind triumph
Deshaun Watson had the last word Sunday, making enough big plays to lead the Houston Texans to a 27-24 win over the Raiders at NRG Stadium.
The game-winning touchdown came on an improbable escape act where Watson threw a 9-yard strike to Darren Fells taking a foot to the eye, with Raiders’ edge rushers Arden Key and Maxx Crosby narrowly missing a sack.
Keeping the Texans alive with his arm as well as his feet, Watson completed 27 of 39 passes for 279 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 49 yards, including converting a fourth-and-1 first down on the first possession of the second half that led to a Houston field goal.
Afterward, Raiders coach Jon Gruden had seen enough.
“If you’ve watched Watson play, we’re not the first team he’s gotten,” Gruden said. “This guy is a spectacular player. He wills it out of his team and makes something out of nothing ... you see Michael Jordan, some of the great athletic plays in any sport .... we had him three times, and then he makes an unbelievable
throw and the kid makes a great catch.”
For much of the game, Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr had the upper hand. He was 18 of 30 for 285 yards and threw three touchdown passes. But the Raiders had the ball only three times in the second half when their defense couldn’t get off the field.
A look at some studs and duds as the Raiders return home from a five-game road trip with a 3-4 record and five of their next seven games at the Coliseum. The Texans improve to 5-3:
Studs
DESHAUN WATSON >> The Houston quarterback kept the Texans in the game with both his arm and his legs. A 9-yard touchdown pass to Darren Fells with 6:26 left came after Watson escaped Arden Key then stepped out of a Maxx Crosby sack attempt to throw a strike for a 27-24 lead.
Watson was 27 of 39 for 279 yards and three touchdowns, including the gamewinner to Fells. He also rushed for 49 yards on seven carries.
TYRELL WILLIAMS >> After missing two games with plantar fasciitis, Williams caught a 46-yard touchdown pass on a right-rolling Derek Carr to put the Raiders up 21-13 with 7:53 left in the third quarter. The play came against former Raiders corner Gareon Conley. Will lament two late potential catches — both with a high degree of difficulty — on the Raiders’ last offensive drive. Caught three passes for 91 yards.
“I know there’s two there that he wants back,” Carr said. “There’s probably two or three I could have thrown a better ball or we could have back.”
HUNTER RENFROW >> Opened the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown reception from Carr to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead. It was Renfrow’s first NFL touchdown. It was a short pattern in which Renfrow spun out of an ankle
tackle attempt by Lonnie Johnson Jr. and found wide open spaces in the Houston secondary.
JOSH JACOBS >> Playing with a right shoulder injury, Jacobs managed to break off some nice gains while sharing the load with DeAndre Washington. Jacobs had 45 yards on nine first-half carries with a long of 23 yards. Gained 66 yards on 15 carries.
DEREK CARR >> Missed some open throws, but threw a pair of touchdown passes and didn’t turn the ball over as the Raiders went into halftime with a lead. Had his first three touchdown pass game of the season and Williams couldn’t come up with two difficult chances late that could have made him a winner. Completed 18 of 30 passes for 285 yards.
“It hurts, first time coming back to Houston,” Carr said. “Had a lot of friends here. Wanted to play good in front of them and beat their team ... everything is still in front of us. We don’t have a lot of control over a lot of things, but we can control how we prepare and try to win these games.” DARREN WALLER >> Frustrated after seeing five incomplete passes head his way, Waller broke through on a rollout from Carr to score on an 8-yard touchdown reception to put the Raiders ahead 14-7 with 9:36 left in the half. BENSON MAYOWA >> Collapsed the pocket for a second-quarter sack against Watson. He leads the Raiders with 5½ sacks. As a point of reference, Khalil Mack also has 5½ sacks.
DANIEL CARLSON >> The Raiders place-kicker converted a 44-yard attempt with 10:48 left to put the Raiders up 24-20. It was Carlson’s 18th consecutive field goal conversion from inside 50 yards.
Duds
RAIDERS PENALTIES >> A holding penalty on Richie Incognito put the Raiders behind in terms of down and distance and forced a punt trailing 27-24 in the fourth quarter. That gave the Raiders 11 penalties for an even 100 yards. Crosby had a roughing the passer penalty to extend a Houston scoring drive as well.
RAIDERS RUN DEFENSE >> The Texans got nowhere in the first half but were able control the ball and eat up clock in the second half. Carlos Hyde finished with 83 yards on 19 carries. LAMARCUS JOYNER >> The Raiders nickel back came up when Watson rolled right and Fells got behind him for a 4-yard touchdown catch to bring Hous- ton within 21-20. To be fair, Watson’s ability on the perimeter put Joyner in a near impossible spot. The score capped a 15-play, 77-yard touchdown drive.
KARL JOSEPH >> Was defending on a play in which Fells caught a 33-yard pass from Watson and was called for a facemask penalty that gave the Texans 15 more yards. It put Houston in the red zone, where they eventually scored on Watson’s 12yard TD pass to Duke Johnson to tie the score 7-7. Joseph also missed coming up with a fumble on Houston’s 77-yard touchdown drive in the late-third and earlyfourth quarters.
RODNEY HUDSON’S INJURY >> The Raiders had only 10 plays with their starting offensive line before Rodney Hudson departed with a lower leg injury, leaving on a cart. Andre James, an undrafted free agent out of UCLA who never played center in college, was the replacement.