Novak connected from 32, 24, 31 and 43 yards for the Texans. Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos drilled another field goal – he finished with four – to cut the Texans’ lead to 13-6. Granted, majority were from the first quarter, but those are still great numbers from a player that a lot of people thought the Texans reached for in the draft.
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“Our defense has worked on that a lot”, said head coach Bill O’Brien during the postgame press conference in the bowels of NRG Stadium.
Hopkins had the only touchdown of the game, a lovely 27-yard reception in the first quarter as Hopkins used a swim move to get past Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters. Tight ends Jesse James and Xavier Grimble also caught scoring passes from Roethlisberger as the Steelers kept Cincinnati (1-1) in check at rainy Heinz Field. DeAndre Hopkins continued his stellar play as he scored his second touchdown of the season and had 113 yards on seven receptions.
The rematch of the Steelers’ ugly 18-16 win in the wild-card round in January was downright tame.
J.J. Watt said this game wasn’t circled on his calendar, and linebacker Whitney Mercilus said beating the Chiefs was a measurement of how far their team had come from previous year. The 21st overall draft pick became the first player in franchise history to have 100 yards receiving in a debut with 107 and a touchdown against the Bears. Alec Vignola threw for 253 yards and a touchdown and Roemello Monroe rushed for 117 yards and a score, the Lions get their first win of the season, beating Lycoming, 17-3.
The run game is another story. After allowing Drew Brees to throw for 511 yards and an NFL-tying seven touchdowns previous year, NY limited him to one touchdown and 263 yards passing, and held the Saints (0-2) to 288 yards total.
Osweiler was effective for most of the day but he did throw two costly interceptions.
Justin Tucker kicked three field goals and the Ravens withstood Cleveland’s final drive to improve to 15-2 against the Browns under Coach John Harbaugh. Nick Novak did miss a field goal, but it would’ve been his longest ever and it hit the left goal post. Jay Cutler spent most of the fourth quarter running for his life. The Denver Broncos hit quarterbacks early and often.
“When your defence makes a big play or your special teams make a big play, on offence you need to take that momentum and finish with a touchdown”, Osweiler said.
And while the Chiefs’ largely-dormant offense still managed to put together a 10-play, 76-yard scoring drive, it was also fitting that they had to settle for a field goal due to back-to-back false start penalties by tackles Mitch Schwartz and Eric Fisher that turned a second-and-10 at the Houston 15 to a hard second-and-20 against a fearsome pass-rush.
Smith targeted Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce a combined 22 times for 11 catches.
Santos supplied all the Chiefs points, and was flawless on all four field-goal attempts, including a 53-yarder that matched his career best.
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Leading the charge, of course, is their Pro Bowl defensive end, J.J. Watt.
