Houston Texans vs Arizona Cardinals Match Player Stats On Nov 10, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Nov 10, 2013

Cardinals 27, Texans 24: Carson Palmer passed for 241 yards and a pair of touchdowns as host Arizona handed Houston its seventh straight setback.

Andre Roberts and Rob Housler each caught a touchdown pass for the Cardinals (5-4), who dominated defensively in the second half. Arizona forced four straight punts and held the Texans to 41 yards in the second half to win the field-position battle.

Case Keenum went 22-for-43 for 201 yards and three touchdowns in his third game as Houston (2-7) suffered its first loss under interim head coach Wade Phillips. Ben Tate ran for 56 yards on 15 carries while starting in place of Arian Foster, who will reportedly undergo season-ending back surgery.

Arizona grabbed the early lead when Matt Shaughnessy recovered Keenum’s fumble on the opening play of the game and rumbled 6 yards for the touchdown. Palmer’s 12-yard TD pass to Housler early in the second made it 14-7 before Keenum tied it with a 2-yard TD to Ryan Griffin and Randy Bullock kicked a 48-yard field goal to send the Texans into the break up 17-14.

The Cardinals asserted themselves defensively after the break, using their field position to tie and take the lead on a pair of field goals by Jay Feely before Palmer’s 19-yard TD pass to Roberts made it a 27-17 gap with 6:42 to play. Houston finally caught a break with a fumble deep in Arizona territory that Keenum turned into his second TD pass to Andre Johnson, but a last-gasp comeback fell short when Keenum could not complete a fourth-down pass.

GAME NOTEBOOK: John Abraham sacked Keenum to force the fumble on the opening play and finished with two sacks, giving him five sacks and three forced fumbles on the season. … Phillips is serving as the head coach in place of Gary Kubiak, who is out indefinitely after suffering a mini-stroke last week. … Houston WR Johnson had five catches for 37 yards and the two scores, while Cardinals WR Michael Floyd exited the game with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder.