Cincinnati Bengals vs Houston Texans Match Player Stats On Jan 07, 2012

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Jan 7, 2012

Arian Foster rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns to power the Houston Texans to a 31-10 victory over the visiting Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday in their first playoff game in franchise history.

Andre Johnson hauled in a 40-yard scoring pass and rookie defensive end J.J. Watt made a spectacular interception return for a touchdown as the Texans (11-6) ran off 24 unanswered points to beat Cincinnati (9-8) for the second time in four weeks.

The victory propelled Houston into an AFC divisional round matchup at No. 2 seed Baltimore next weekend. The Ravens beat the visiting Texans 29-14 in Week 6.

Foster, who rushed for 1,224 yards during the regular season, scored on an 8-yard run in the first quarter and put the game out of reach by rumbling 42 yards down the right sideline with just under 5 1/2 minutes to play.

Texans rookie quarterback T.J. Yates, playing with a separated left shoulder, had a quietly efficient game by completing 11 of 20 for 159 yards and one TD.

Yates, who started the season as a third-stringer, connected on a scoring strike to Johnson down the left sideline with 68 seconds left in the third quarter to boost Houston's lead to 24-10.

It was the first touchdown pass since Week 2 for Johnson, who missed nine games this season with separate hamstring injuries.

The Texans picked off Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton three times, including a momentum-turning play by Watt in the final minute of the first half.

The first-round pick out of Wisconsin leaped and snatched Dalton's pass out of the air before returning it 29 yards for a score to send Houston into the locker room with a 17-10 halftime lead.

The game marked the first time in the Super Bowl era that two rookie quarterbacks have started against one another in the postseason.

Dalton had been picked off only once in the last six regular-season games, but he threw two more interceptions in the second half and finished 27 of 42 for 257 yards.