NFL Game Recap - Atlanta at Houston
Sun Oct 6, 2019 1:00 PM EDT

LAR
29
SEA
30
F
NE
33
WAS
7
F
BUF
14
TEN
7
F
BAL
26
PIT
23
F OT
NYJ
6
PHI
31
F
CHI
21
OAK
24
F
MIN
28
NYG
10
F
TB
24
NO
31
F
ATL
32
HOU
53
F
ARI
26
CIN
23
F
JAX
27
CAR
34
F
DEN
20
LAC
13
F
GB
34
DAL
24
F
IND
19
KC
13
F
CLE
3
SF
31
F
NYG
14
NE
35
F

Oct 6, 2019, 1:00 PM EDT

Final

1

2

3

4

T

Atlanta (1-4)

7

10

0

15

32

Houston (3-2)

7

9

17

20

53

Watson throws 5 TDs, 3 to Fuller; Texans top Falcons 53-32
Sun Oct 6, 2019 7:35 PM

HOUSTON (AP) Will Fuller knew it was up to him to make things happen on Sunday with Atlanta focused on slowing down DeAndre Hopkins.

Fuller didn't disappoint, catching three of Deshaun Watson's five touchdown passes and finishing with a career-high 217 yards receiving to lead the Houston Texans to a 53-32 win.

"Playing with Hop, like I always say, is easy," Fuller said. "He gets a lot of coverages thrown his way, and I feel like that's why they brought me here, to help him out. It took me a while, but I finally had this big game, so I'm just trying to help ... out."

Watson threw for a career-high 426 yards and his five touchdowns tied a personal best.

A week after scoring a season-low 10 points in a loss to Carolina, Watson and Houston's offense bounced back on a day he was 28 of 33 and became the first player to top 400 yards passing against the Falcons since Week 16 of 2012. It was the second-most points in franchise history behind the 57 they scored in a win over the Titans in 2017.

Watson is the first player in NFL to throw for at least 400 yards and five touchdowns with five incompletions or fewer in a game in NFL history.

"Will did a heck of a job and ... DeAndre, he did a heck of a job of allowing Will to get open with double coverage and setting the routes up for him," Watson said.

Hopkins, who had 88 yards receiving on Sunday, was proud that the attention on him helped Fuller to his big day.

"Not a lot of people want to go out there and just line up a man against me unless they really believe in him," Hopkins said. "But that's why we have guys like Will, the tight ends and the running backs to step up when there are two or three guys on me."

Fuller's 14 receptions and three TD catches are tied with Andre Johnson for the most in a game in franchise history. Darren Fells had two touchdown grabs for the Texans (3-2) and Carlos Hyde added a rushing TD.

Houston's beleaguered offensive line didn't allow a sack on Sunday after giving up 18 through the first four games.

Matt Ryan had 330 yards passing with three touchdowns and one interception for the Falcons (1-4), who lost their third straight game.

It was Watson's first meeting with the Falcons after the Georgia native worked as a ball boy for the team all four years of high school. Watson shared a moment with Falcons owner Arthur Blank on the field before the game. Blank started the program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County that allowed Watson the opportunity to work for the Falcons as a teenager.

Atlanta cut the lead to eight points with about 11 1/2 minutes to go before Watson's second TD pass to Fells pushed the lead to 40-25 about five minutes later.

The Falcons cut the lead to one score again with 3 1/2 minutes left when Ryan threw a 29-yard pass to Calvin Ridley to get them within 40-32. But Watson and Fuller struck again, with Fuller grabbing a 44-yard touchdown reception to make it 47-32 with about two minutes remaining.

The Texans added another score when Tashaun Gipson returned an interception 79 yards for a touchdown in the final minute.

The rest of the offense surrounded Fuller on the bench following the third score and the players bowed to him and lofted him in the air as his big day was announced in the stadium and he was shown on the Jumbotron.

Watson, who was criticized for failing to complete any deep passes against the Panthers, had no such trouble on Sunday when he completed multiple passes for 25 yards or more. His favorite target was Fuller, who more than doubled his output from the first four games combined on Sunday after entering the day with 183 yards receiving.

Falcons coach Dan Quinn said there was "no excuse" for his team's poor performance on Sunday.

"Those explosive plays just can't be a part of it," he said. "That was one of the catalysts that gave them the energy in the third quarter."

Houston got things going in the second half when Watson hit Keke Coutee on a 51-yard catch-and-run. The Texans regained the lead four plays later when Carlos Hyde scored on a 1-yard run to make it 23-17.

The Texans tacked on a field goal later in the third before Fells caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Watson to extend the lead to 33-17. Watson completed two long throws on that drive, finding Fuller for a 32-yard gain before connecting with Hopkins for 29 yards.

DeAndre Carter muffed a punt on the first play of the fourth quarter and it was recovered by Atlanta.

The Falcons cashed in on that mistake when Ryan crashed into the end zone for a 1-yard score with about 11 1/2 minutes left. It was first ruled that he fumbled, but it was reviewed and determined that Ryan got into the end zone before fumbling to give Atlanta the touchdown. Ryan found Austin Hooper for the 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 33-25.

Fuller got in front of the defense and grabbed a 33-yard touchdown pass in the second, but the kicked failed to leave the Texans up 13-10.

The Texans pushed the lead to 16-10 with a field goal later in the second before Ryan orchestrated a 12-play, 82-yard drive capped by a 9-yard pass to Devonta Freeman to leave the Falcons up 17-16 at halftime.

THEY SAID IT

Ryan on the loss: "That was a tough one. To sit here 1-4 after five games is difficult. It's not what we wanted, but we're going to be the ones to have to dig ourselves out of it."

UP NEXT

Falcons: Visit Arizona next Sunday.

Texans: Visit Chiefs next Sunday.

---

More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP-NFL

Passing

ATL Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat Sk
M. Ryan 46 32 69.6 3 330 29 1 102.6 2
HOU Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat Sk
D. Watson 33 28 84.8 5 426 51 0 158.3 0

Rushing

ATL Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
D. Freeman 11 30 2.7 21 0
I. Smith 5 19 3.8 11 0
HOU Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
C. Hyde 21 60 2.9 14 1
D. Johnson 9 59 6.6 24 0

Receiving

ATL Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
C. Ridley 5 88 17.6 29 1
A. Hooper 6 56 9.3 18 0
HOU Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
W. Fuller 14 217 15.5 44 3
D. Hopkins 7 88 12.6 29 0

Team Stats Comparison

ATL HOU
Points For 32 53
Total Yards 373 592
Rushing Yards 57 166
Passing Yards 316 426
Passing Completions / Attempts 32/46 28/33
Turnovers 1 1
Interceptions Thrown 1 0
Fumbles - Lost 1/0 5/1
First Downs 22 31
Rushing Touchdowns 1 1
Passing Touchdowns 3 5
Penalties - Yards 7/63 9/89
Time Of Possession 29:00 31:00
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 9/16 10/13
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 1/1 0/0
Red Zone Conversions/Attempts 3/4 4/5
Sacks Against 2 0
Punts - Average Yards 5/50 1/35
Punt Returns - Average Yards/Punt Return 0/0 4/6
Kickoff Returns - Average Yards/Kickoff Return 4/16 1/22

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter ATL HOU
ATL 05:57 TD Mohamed Sanu 14 yd pass from Matt Ryan (Matt Bryant kick) 7 0
HOU 10:51 TD Will Fuller V 6 yd pass from Deshaun Watson (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 7 7
2nd Quarter ATL HOU
ATL 00:08 FG Matt Bryant 35 yd FG 10 7
HOU 02:54 TD Will Fuller V 33 yd pass from Deshaun Watson (missed kick) 10 13
HOU 10:58 FG Ka'imi Fairbairn 50 yd FG 10 16
ATL 14:38 TD Devonta Freeman 9 yd pass from Matt Ryan (Matt Bryant kick) 17 16
3rd Quarter ATL HOU
HOU 03:09 TD Carlos Hyde 1 yd run (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 17 23
HOU 07:23 FG Ka'imi Fairbairn 26 yd FG 17 26
HOU 13:02 TD Darren Fells 8 yd pass from Deshaun Watson (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 17 33
4th Quarter ATL HOU
ATL 03:36 TD Matt Ryan 1 yd run (Austin Hooper 2pt Pass from Matt Ryan) 25 33
HOU 08:36 TD Darren Fells 12 yd pass from Deshaun Watson (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 25 40
ATL 11:38 TD Calvin Ridley 29 yd pass from Matt Ryan (Matt Bryant kick) 32 40
HOU 13:09 TD Will Fuller V 44 yd pass from Deshaun Watson (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 32 47
HOU 14:36 TD Tashaun Gipson Sr. 79 yd interception return (missed kick) 32 53

Game Information

Stadium: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 71,787
Game Time: 3:13
Weather: