The Houston Texans couldn’t repeat their magic from the previous week, but they made it a game, at least for one half, in a 34-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Here are the key moments and players from the game. Running wild Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson ran free all game against the Texans, finishing with 100 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns. He started and essentially finished Baltimore’s only touchdown drive of the first half, scrambling for 23 yards early and then 15 yards on 3rd-and-5 to put the Ravens at 2. He then hit Nelson Agholor for the touchdown. Jackson had a pair of touchdown runs in the second half, and he contributed to the Ravens’ dominance in rushing yards for the game.
Baltimore rushed for 229 yards compared to just 38 for Houston, which couldn’t make a dent in the running game against the Ravens’ vaunted defence. Yellow fever Penalties killed the Texans, especially in the first quarter. Houston had six penalties for 40 yards in the first quarter alone—more than the four first downs the team had. Pre-snap penalties were a game-long problem; the Texans had seven pre-snap penalties through three quarters. The Baltimore home crowd noise was a factor, but the penalties were often drive-killers. For comparison, in the win over Cleveland, Houston had just two penalties all game. And Baltimore had no penalties in the first quarter and just two by the time the score was 24-10. Just at the start, Houston rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud kept the underdog Texans close for more than a half with his steady presence and deft playmaking.
The Texans had no turnovers, and Stroud wasn’t sacked all game—very impressive considering the Ravens’ defence finished the regular season with an NFL record as the first team in history to lead the league in sacks, takeaways, and points allowed. Stroud finished 19-for-33 passing for 175 yards and a passer rating of 72.2 one week after having a perfect passer rating in the team’s win over the Cleveland Browns. Stroud, now 1-1 in the playoffs, became just the 10th rookie quarterback to win a playoff game, and none have ever won a conference championship game to reach the Super Bowl.
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