Houston Texans Football: The Unheralded MVP of the Victory over the Bengals
There were many valuable players in the Texans' AFC South-clinching comeback victory at Cincinnati.
T.J. Yates continues his cold-blooded play; Kevin Walters, Owen Daniels and Joel Dreesen have picked up the slack in Andre Johnson's absence; and the two-headed monster of Arian Foster complemented by Ben Tate continues to churn out chunks of yards in the rushing and receiving games.
Defensively, Connor Barwin, Brooks Reed, Danielle Manning and Glover Quin stepped up by forcing a turnover and making important tackles.
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But perhaps the most important play came when an offensive lineman made a defensive play early in the fourth quarter.
After Arian Foster fumbled a screen pass from T.J. Yates around the 20-yard line, Geno Atkins of the Bengals recovered and began returning the recovery. He was almost to the five when Chris Myers, the Texans Center, came from behind and forced the fumble that was eventually recovered by Eric Winston.
Had the fumble not been forced, the Bengals would have been set up, already ahead 19-10, to score again and most likely put the game away.
Instead, T.J. Yates and company drove down the field, got a field goal, putting the Texans within a score, and completed an improbable comeback with a touchdown pass to Kevin Walter with :02 remaining.
More importantly, the win earned the Texans the franchise's first ever AFC South Championship and first ever playoff berth.
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