Joe Mixon rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Houston Texans to a convincing 34-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night in Arlington, Texas.
Derek Barnett scored on a fumble return for the Texans (7-4), who hold a two-game lead over the second-place Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South. C.J. Stroud completed 23 of 34 passes for 257 yards and one interception, and Mixon added 44 yards on two receptions.
Cooper Rush connected on 32 of 55 passes for 354 yards, one touchdown and one interception for the Cowboys (3-7), who lost their fifth consecutive game. Dallas' KaVontae Turpin caught a scoring pass and CeeDee Lamb had eight receptions for 93 yards.
Houston held a 20-10 lead after a 29-yard field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn with 7:05 left in the third quarter.
The Cowboys appeared to have answered with a field goal of their own when Brandon Aubrey connected from 64 yards, 1 yard shy of his career long.
However, Barnett was called for a head slap, a 15-yard personal foul that carries an automatic first down. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy decided to take the points off the board and the ball was moved to the Houston 31-yard line.
However, Dallas eventually turned the ball over on downs as Rush's pass on fourth-and-2 from the 8 sailed over the head of Jonathan Mingo.
Disaster struck for the Cowboys early in the fourth quarter as Barnett forced Rush to fumble on a strip-sack. Dallas offensive lineman Tyler Guyton recovered the ball, but Houston's Jalen Pitre forced him to fumble. Barnett picked it up on a bounce at the Dallas 28 and cruised in for the second touchdown of his eight-year career to give the Texans a 27-10 advantage.
Mixon rushed for 71 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and the Texans took a 17-10 lead into halftime.
Mixon exploded up the middle for a 45-yard scoring run with 12:42 left in the opening period. Less than 12 minutes later, he scored from the 1 to give Houston a 14-0 lead.
Dallas got on the board when Turpin caught a short pass near his own 45-yard line and turned it into a 64-yard scoring play. He outran the Houston secondary for the touchdown nine seconds into the second quarter.
Houston moved ahead 17-7 on Fairbairn's 33-yard field goal with 9:10 left in the half. Aubrey booted a 53-yarder for the Cowboys with 5:55 remaining before the break.
--Field Level Media