Houston beats Bengals 19-13 in wild-card playoff

The Texans had trouble finishing drives and managed three field goals in the first half against the Bengals (10-7). Houston struck first after the break, with Foster scoring the game’s only offensive touchdown to make it 16-7.

Schaub, who missed last year’s playoffs with a foot injury, had an interception returned for a touchdown by Leon Hall before halftime.

“It was never easy,” Schaub said. “Cincinnati is a great team. I made a turnover and gave them points. We just had to rally around each other and we did that.”

Johnathan Joseph, a former Bengal, came up with an interception for the Texans, who kept Cincinnati without a playoff win since the 1990 season, the league’s longest current streak.

Houston had struggled on third downs lately. This time, the Texans didn’t let the Bengals convert a third down on nine tries.

The Texans rebounded from a terrible month where they lost three of four games and the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. The win came in front of a record crowd of 71,738, including former Oilers great Earl Campbell.

The Bengals couldn’t do anything offensively before the break, and were outgained 250-53 in the first half. Dalton was 4 of 10 for 3 yards in the first half.

Schaub shook off his first-half miscue to finish 29 of 38 for 262 yards, and Dalton finished 14 of 30 for 127 yards.

The Bengals had a chance for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but Dalton’s pass sailed just out of reach of a diving A.J. Green in the end zone.

“The offense didn’t play as well as it could have,” Dalton said. “You can always look back and say, ‘What if?’”

Dalton’s 45-yard pass to Green got Cincinnati moving in the third quarter and set up Josh Brown’s 34-yard field goal. When Dalton tried to go to Green again, Joseph intercepted and got the Texans in scoring range again as the quarter ended.

In last year’s playoffs, the Texans routed the Bengals 31-10, with Dalton throwing three interceptions.

The main difference in this one: Schaub was back in charge for Houston. Rookie T.J. Yates filled in for Schaub, got the Texans a win in their first playoff game, but couldn’t take them any further.

On their second possession, Schaub completed an 18-yard pass, Foster had a 17-yard run and Keshawn Martin went 16 yards on a reverse, setting up Graham’s field goal.

It became a pattern — move the ball down the field, settle for three points. The fans started booing.

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