NFL teams
Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff Writer 5y

With seven straight wins, Texans' goals now bigger than AFC South

LANDOVER, Md. -- It wasn’t pretty, but the Houston Texans keep winning.

After beating the NFC East-leading Redskins 23-21 on Sunday, the Texans have won seven straight games and put themselves in position to seriously compete for a top-two seed -- and first-round bye -- in the playoffs. Houston now has a two-game lead in the AFC South after the Titans lost to the Colts on Sunday, and the Texans are a position where their ambitions should be more than just a division title.

“[It] wasn’t clean, but we know there is something about this team right now,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “They have a strong belief in each other and came up big in the end. The defense did a good job and the offense did just enough.”

Houston became only the second team in NFL history to win seven straight games after an 0-3 start. According to Elias, the only team to do it in the past was the 1925 Giants.

“We’re just constantly trying to stack wins,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “I think each and every game we play from here on out is a really important game, especially when you want to go to the playoffs.

“Every game’s not going to be pretty ... but I thought we held them when we needed to.”

There are still plenty of things Houston needs to fix to make a deep playoff run. Quarterback Deshaun Watson needs to get back to protecting the football after he threw two interceptions on Sunday. The Texans had won their past three games in part because they had not turned the ball over since Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills.

Earlier in the week, O’Brien reiterated the importance of winning the turnover battle, saying, that is “one of the most important stats” in a game. Against the Redskins, the Texans were minus-one and Watson’s second interception gave the Redskins the ball at the Houston 9-yard line. Two plays later, Redskins backup quarterback Colt McCoy threw a touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Reed.

Watson completed 16 of 24 passes for for 208 yards with a touchdown and the two interceptions. Houston only scored one touchdown on offense, which came in the first quarter to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins finished with five catches for 56 yards and the touchdown.

The defense was again a difference-maker, intercepting Redskins starting quarterback Alex Smith twice before he left the game on a cart with a broken tibia and fibula. As Washington threatened to erase a deficit late in the first half, Texans rookie safety Justin Reid intercepted Smith’s pass in the end zone and returned it 101 yards to extend the Texans' lead to 17-7. That play changed the game late in the first half and was at least a 10-point swing.

“I think about our three-game losing streak and there were some instances where we didn’t get off the field,” Mathieu said. “It was a lot of instances where we didn’t make the plays we were making now. So obviously guys are learning from the bad things that have happened. So I think it’s important for us to just keep a clear-eyed view and not get ahead of ourselves because we still haven’t accomplished anything yet.”

There’s no doubt the Texans still have work to do, but as O’Brien has said all season, a win is a win. And the Texans now have seven of them with six games left in the season, with no games remaining against a team with a record above .500.

But although the Texans have put themselves in a good position to make a playoff run, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney was clear he’s not trying to look ahead to that possibility.

“For us, it’s just one game at a time. And right now, it’s get ready for Tennessee and try to win our eighth straight,” Clowney said. “We’re not looking ahead right now. We’re just trying to look for the next game on the schedule and just try to win them all one game at a time.”

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