Joe Mixon scores 3 TDs as Texans’ O-line steps up to ‘challenge’

ARLINGTON, Texas —  Texans coach DeMeco Ryans called running back Joe Mixon “a force” after his three-touchdown performance in Houston’s 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys on “Monday Night Football.”

Mixon did the heavy lifting for the Texans’ offense as he scored all of its offensive touchdowns and rushed for 109 yards. His three rushing touchdowns were the second most he has had in a single game in his career.

Mixon tied a Texans single-game record for rushing touchdowns, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to accomplish the feat. But Ryans and Mixon gave credit to the offensive line for paving running lanes for the former Pro Bowl back.

“Joe, when he’s on, he’s a force for us,” Ryans said. “The run game starts with our offensive line. I challenged them to play fast, play aggressive. I thought they did a really nice job. I really like the way we just kept churning it in the run game, and proud of the guys for stepping up to the challenge.”

According to ESPN Research, 79 of Mixon’s 109 rushing yards came before contact, including him going untouched on a 45-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter, which was the longest score of his career. This was Mixon’s sixth straight game with a rushing touchdown, tying the longest streak in Texans history set by former All-Pro running back Arian Foster in 2011.

“I think everybody was dialed in on the game plan, and we came out here and executed for four quarters,” Mixon said. “It was a great thing to see the O-line pretty much go out there and impose their will. … It was a time in the fourth quarter when the [offensive line] was like, ‘Man, let’s take it to these boys.’ And I’m like, ‘s—.’ I went to [Texans offensive coordinator] Bobby Slowik and I’m like, ‘Man, them boys trying to run it.'”

The offensive line opening holes for Mixon also helped quarterback C.J. Stroud have an efficient game: He completed 67.6% of his passes, tying his third-highest completion percentage of the season, for 257 yards with an interception. He also went 8-for-8 on passes off play-action for 99 yards, according to Next Gen Stats.

And most importantly the offensive line limited pressure on Stroud to only 36% of his drop backs, lower than the season rate of 41% coming into Monday.

“[They were] amazing, I was back there chilling a lot of times,” Stroud said. “I thought we mixed up the protections pretty well. Always things to clean up, but definitely took a step forward. That’s what we wanted.”

Mixon became the third player in NFL history to have at least 10 rushing touchdowns in his first eight games with a new team, and the first since running back Eric Dickerson in 1983 with the Los Angeles Rams, according to ESPN Research.

“We put it together in the pass game and run game. So that’s something we can build from,” right tackle Tytus Howard told ESPN. “Just take these games and stack off of it for the rest of the season, we know what we got to do. It was like our best week of practice, all season, so you got to build on that.”