The Texans picked up four takeaways off of the Seahawks on Monday night.
But Houston’s offense struggled mightily to finish drives and Seattle ended up with a 27-19 victory to keep pace with the Rams and 49ers in the NFC West.
Seattle raced out to a 14-0 lead with a Zach Charbonnet 1-yard touchdown run and Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 11-yard TD reception in the first quarter.
But with an interception off a trick play and a blocked punt, the Texans scored a pair of field goals to go into halftime down 14-6.
After a Seattle field goal early in the third quarter, Houston’s defense put up a score with Will Anderson’s strip-sack and fumble recovery in the end zone for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, keeping the score at 17-12.
After that, Jason Myers connected on a 47-yard field goal and Charbonnet put in a 2-yard touchdown to make the score 27-12 late in the third period.
But Houston continued to get opportunities. The club turned it over on downs from the Seattle 45 midway through the fourth quarter. Then after getting the ball to the 1-yard line following a Derek Stingley interception, the offense again failed to get into the end zone for a turnover on downs.
Woody Marks finally caught a touchdown with 2:04 left to narrow Seattle’s lead to eight points. But the Texans failed to kick the ball to a place where it couldn’t be fielded, and George Holani’s 29-yard return wiped out the two-minute warning.
With only one timeout, the Texans were unlikely to have much time to do anything even with a third-down stop. But then Tim Settle was flagged for unnecessary roughness for jumping on the pile on a third-and-3 run stuff, giving Seattle a free first down to effectively end the game.
It was a strong night for Seattle’s defense, which caused a rough performance for Houston’s offense. The Texans finished with just 254 total yards on 69 plays, which works out to an average gain of just 3.7 yards per play. Stroud finished 23-of-49 for 229 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He was also Houston’s leading rusher with 25 yards on two carries.
Dalton Schultz led the team with nine receptions for 98 yards. Nico Collins had four catches for 27 yards, but had to depart the contest early in the fourth quarter after being diagnosed with a concussion.
On the other side, Sam Darnold was 17-of-31 for 213 yards with a touchdown, an interception, and a lost fumble
Smith-Njigba had another terrific performance, catching eight passes for 123 yards with a TD. He became the second player in franchise history to record three straight games with 100 yards receiving. His five performances with at least 100 yards are tied for the second-most in franchise history.
He’s gone for at least 120 yards in four games this season.
Cooper Kupp had the team’s other interception on an ill-advised trick play late in the first half. He had one catch for 32 yards.
With the win, the Seahawks move to 5-2 — the same record as the 49ers and Rams atop the NFC West. Seattle will be on a bye in Week 8 before heading to the East Coast to play the Commanders on Sunday Night Football in Week 9.
The Texans are now 2-4. After a long, redeye flight home to Houston, they’ll host the 49ers at noon local time on Sunday.
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