Tag falls on Cowboys as Houston Texans extend Dallas slump | NFL

Joe Mixon ran for three touchdowns to extend his TD streak to six games since Derek Barnett returned from injury Derek Barnett returned a fumble 28 yards for a score and the Texans beat the Cowboys 34-10 on Monday night.

The Texans (7-4) snapped just the second two-game losing streak of CJ Stroud’s young career while maintaining a two-game lead in the AFC South.

Houston pulled away in the second half a week after a 26-23 loss to Detroit at home when the Texans let a 23-7 halftime lead get away from them.

“It’s not as bad as it ever seems and it’s never as good as it ever seems,” Stroud said. “The type of games you have to come out with a win, especially when you go up like that in the half (against the Lions). But what are we going to do about it?”

Amid a woeful season for the Cowboys (3-7) on the field, dirt fell from their stadium’s retractable roof when it opened a few hours before the game. There was no delay and no injuries were reported, just another mishap that heralded a fifth straight defeat for a team that lost five games in total in each of the past three seasons.

Cooper Rush threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin, but lost his second start since Dak Prescott’s season-ending hamstring injury.

Dallas’ losing streak is their longest since a seven-game skid in 2015, and the Cowboys fell to 0-5 at home. Dallas is the first team in NFL history to trail by at least 20 points in six consecutive home games, including last season’s wild-card playoff loss to Green Bay, according to Sportradar. The Cowboys had made the playoffs in each of their previous three seasons, but that run is almost over.

“Well, they better be frustrated,” Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy said. “I mean, we’re all frustrated. I think there would be something wrong if they weren’t frustrated. So just be very honest with everything and stay in tune with what’s right in front of us. And that’s the only way I’ve ever done it.”

The Cowboys were down 20-10 early in the fourth quarter when Barnett knocked the ball out of Rush’s hand. Dallas rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton caught it and tried to run when Jalen Pitre knocked the ball loose again. Barnett scooped up the ball and scored, even though he almost stepped out of bounds.

“The play he made really changed the game for us,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It turned the momentum. It got everybody up on the sideline. It was just a huge play.”

Earlier, the Cowboys appeared to have pulled within a touchdown on a 64-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey, but Barnett was penalized for rushing Terence Steele. Dallas erased the points by taking the penalty, but Rush’s fourth-down pass from Houston’s eight-yard line was incomplete on the only good scoring chance of the second half for the Cowboys.

“The defense played with elite energy,” Ryans said. “A big game that we gave up. Like to have it back, but overall I think our guys played really well.”

Texans receiver Nico Collins returned after missing five games with a hamstring injury and took a screen pass 77 yards to the end zone on the game’s first play, only to have it called back due to an ineligible receiver downfield.

That possession ended in a touchdown anyway on Mixon’s 45-yard sprint up the middle, and he ran wide for a one-yard score and a 14-0 lead. Mixon had 109 yards rushing on the day and set up a field goal with a 37-yard catch-and-run on a screen.

“I really love that first game because it showed what we could do in this game,” Ryans said. “Even though it was called back, I just told all our guys, ‘We can score on these guys again. Just remember we’re going to score again.’

Already without Prescott, the Cowboys lost tight end Jake Ferguson to a concussion and perennial All-Pro right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith to ankle injuries. Rush was sacked five times, three on the same possession when Martin and Smith were injured.

Stroud, who has been in a mini-slump, threw for 257 yards while avoiding a fumble after an early interception on fourth down. It was the third time in five games he’s gone without a touchdown pass, and he has two TDs and three picks in that stretch.

Rush was 32 of 55 for 354 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Turpin had three catches for 86 yards.