NFL Game Recap - Denver at Houston
Sun Dec 8, 2019 1:00 PM EST

DAL
24
CHI
31
F
IND
35
TB
38
F
MIA
21
NYJ
22
F
SF
48
NO
46
F
DET
7
MIN
20
F
DEN
38
HOU
24
F
WAS
15
GB
20
F
CIN
19
CLE
27
F
BAL
24
BUF
17
F
CAR
20
ATL
40
F
LAC
45
JAX
10
F
TEN
42
OAK
21
F
KC
23
NE
16
F
PIT
23
ARI
17
F
SEA
12
LAR
28
F
NYG
17
PHI
23
F OT
NYJ
21
BAL
42
F

Denver 38, Houston 24

Dec 8, 2019, 1:00 PM EST

Final

1

2

3

4

T

Denver (5-8)

14

17

7

0

38

Houston (8-5)

0

3

7

14

24

Lock throws 3 TDs in first half as Broncos beat Texans 38-24
Sun Dec 8, 2019 7:35 PM

HOUSTON (AP) Denver coach Vic Fangio expected to see some improvement from rookie quarterback Drew Lock on Sunday in his second career start.

He didn't dream he'd see this big of a jump.

Lock threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns, Kareem Jackson had an interception and returned a fumble 70 yards for a touchdown against his former team as the Broncos built a huge first-half lead and coasted 38-24 over the Houston Texans.

Fangio at first joked that the second-round pick out of Missouri was “just OK” before getting serious.

“He played, obviously, very well,” Fangio said. “Made a great jump from Week 1 to Week 2, which is what you’re hoping for. I thought he threw the ball much, much better than he did last week. I don’t think he missed many today. To do that on his first road start against a team that’s going to be in the playoffs makes it even better.”

Lock, who made his NFL debut in a win over the Chargers last week, threw for 235 yards with three TDs in the first half. It was the most yards passing in a first half by the Broncos since Peyton Manning had 282 in Week 5 of 2014.

“We were ready to rock and roll from the get-go," Lock said. “We were fired up. We were ready to go. It was exciting to be a part of.”

The Broncos (5-8) scored on their first five possessions to build 38-3 lead early in the third quarter. They scored more than 24 points for the first time since Oct. 19, 2018.

Houston's hold on the AFC South took a hit as the Texans (8-5) came out flat in a terrible first half a week after downing the Patriots 28-22 for their first win in the series since 2010. Tennessee (8-5) beat Oakland later Sunday to move into a tie with Houston for first place in the division.

“I don't think there was anything very good,” Houston coach Bill O'Brien said. “I take full responsibility for that. Just did not have this team ready to play. I thought I did, but I was wrong.”

Deshaun Watson threw for 292 yards with one TD pass and two interceptions after throwing three touchdown passes and grabbing his first career TD reception in a stellar performance against New England.

The Broncos took an early lead when Lock threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Noah Fant with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter. Fant, who finished with 113 yards receiving, had a 48-yard reception earlier in that drive.

Keke Coutee, inactive for the past two games despite being healthy, grabbed an 8-yard reception on Houston's next drive but fumbled. Jeremiah Attaochu picked up the ball and handed it off to Jackson, who dashed 70 yards for the score against the team he spent the last nine seasons with.

Jackson wanted to treat this like any other game but admitted to getting a little emotional when he arrived at the stadium and began seeing so many familiar faces.

“It’s all about me being a piece of the puzzle,” he said. “I didn’t want to make it all about me and my return here. We had to come here and execute as a team. It’s all about executing the day, and I felt like we did that in all three phases.”

Denver pushed the lead to 21-0 in the second quarter when Lock connected with Jeff Heuerman on an 8-yard pass. Lock had completions of 37 and 25 yards on that drive.

The Texans went on fourth-and-1 from their 34 with two minutes left in the first half and Watson's pass was tipped at the line and fell incomplete to give the Broncos a short field. They took at advantage when Royce Freeman caught a 3-yard touchdown pass to make it 31-3 at halftime. Houston's Lonnie Johnson had two defensive holding penalties on that drive.

Phillip Lindsay pushed Denver's lead to 38-3 with a 1-yard run early in the third quarter.

DeAndre Hopkins gave the Texans their first touchdown on a 43-yard reception on their first drive of the second half.

Tashaun Gipson intercepted Lock near the goal line on Denver's next drive and returned it 26 yards. The Texans made it 38-17 early in the fourth quarter when Watson leaped into the end zone at the end of a 6-yard scramble.

Houston got a stop and Watson converted a fourth-and-19 with a pass to Hopkins on the next drive before his pass on fourth-and-3 was tipped three times and intercepted by Jackson to end any hope of a comeback.

Watson added another touchdown run with 32 seconds left.

INJURIES

Broncos: DE Dre'Mont Jones injured his ankle in the first quarter and didn't return. ... Fant left in the second half with a foot injury.

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR

Lock's teammates joked last week that the big wristband he wore with the plays on it looked like the laser beam that Buzz Lightyear, the animated star of Disney's “Toy Story” movies, wears on his forearm. So this week he decided to have a little fun with their mockery and pretended to shoot laser beams out of his wristband after throwing a touchdown pass against the Texans.

“It was definitely a lot of fun with Buzz Lightyear this week, blew up on Twitter to where the offensive line (said) we should shoot the laser after you score a touchdown,” Lock said. “All right you want to do it, we'll do it. We fully embraced it.”

The 23-year-old Lock wasn't born when the first movie came out in 1995, but he's caught up on all four movies since then.

“Buzz is older than me, but we’ve got to bring back some legends sometimes,” he said.

LINEBACKER COSTUMES

Houston's linebackers continued their ritual of wearing themed outfits to games this week by dressing up like characters from the movie “Dodgeball.” The group has also dressed as members of a swat team, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Super Mario Bros characters, and in jerseys from the movie “Space Jam.”

UP NEXT

Broncos: Visit the Chiefs next Sunday.

Texans: Visit the Titans next Sunday.

---

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

Passing

DEN Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat Sk
D. Lock 27 22 81.5 3 309 48 1 136.0 1
HOU Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat Sk
D. Watson 50 28 56.0 1 292 43 2 63.1 3

Rushing

DEN Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
P. Lindsay 16 51 3.2 8 1
R. Freeman 8 24 3.0 11 0
HOU Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
C. Hyde 14 73 5.2 13 0
D. Watson 6 44 7.3 16 2

Receiving

DEN Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
N. Fant 4 113 28.3 48 1
T. Patrick 2 50 25.0 37 0
HOU Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
D. Hopkins 7 120 17.1 43 1
K. Coutee 5 68 13.6 22 0

Team Stats Comparison

DEN HOU
Points For 38 24
Total Yards 391 414
Rushing Yards 90 134
Passing Yards 301 280
Passing Completions / Attempts 22/27 28/50
Turnovers 1 3
Interceptions Thrown 1 2
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 1/1
First Downs 22 26
Rushing Touchdowns 1 2
Passing Touchdowns 3 1
Penalties - Yards 7/50 9/44
Time Of Possession 31:25 28:35
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 5/8 6/13
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 0/0 2/4
Red Zone Conversions/Attempts 4/5 2/2
Sacks Against 1 3
Punts - Average Yards 2/43 2/37
Punt Returns - Average Yards/Punt Return 1/2 1/8
Kickoff Returns - Average Yards/Kickoff Return 1/33 1/26

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter DEN HOU
DEN 07:33 TD Noah Fant 14 yd pass from Drew Lock (Brandon McManus kick) 7 0
DEN 11:27 TD Kareem Jackson 70 yd opp fumble return (Brandon McManus kick) 14 0
2nd Quarter DEN HOU
DEN 03:36 TD Jeff Heuerman 8 yd pass from Drew Lock (Brandon McManus kick) 21 0
HOU 06:11 FG Ka'imi Fairbairn 54 yd FG 21 3
DEN 11:56 FG Brandon McManus 36 yd FG 24 3
DEN 14:23 TD Royce Freeman 3 yd pass from Drew Lock (Brandon McManus kick) 31 3
3rd Quarter DEN HOU
DEN 05:45 TD Phillip Lindsay 1 yd run (Brandon McManus kick) 38 3
HOU 07:24 TD DeAndre Hopkins 43 yd pass from Deshaun Watson (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 38 10
4th Quarter DEN HOU
HOU 01:26 TD Deshaun Watson 6 yd run (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 38 17
HOU 14:35 TD Deshaun Watson 3 yd run (Ka'imi Fairbairn kick) 38 24

Game Information

Stadium: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 71,769
Game Time: 3:12
Weather: