Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins of the Houston Texans

NFL Week Six highlights, picks & reports: Kansas City Chiefs beaten by Houston Texans

By Paul Higham

NFL

Mon October 14, 2019 · 5y ago

The Houston Texans handed the well-fancied Kansas City Chiefs their second straight loss (31-24), with MVP Patrick Mahomes suffering a worrying ankle injury in the process.

The Chiefs are among the Super Bowl favourites, and started well enough by running up a 17-3 lead in the first quarter with Mahomes connecting with returning receiver Tyreek Hill in a highlight reel 46-yard score.

The combination of an ankle injury for Mahomes and 20 unanswered points from the Texans turned the game on its head though, and two rushing scores from Texans QB Deshaun Watson sealed the deal for Houston. Both teams are now sat on 4-2 for the season.

Teddy Bridgewater won again when standing in for the injured Drew Brees as quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, but it was a defensive effort that had the major say in their 13-6 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Just the one touchdown was scored as both defences played at their restrictive best, and it was Bridgewater who got it with a four-yard pass to tight end Jared Cook.

Gardner Minshew has become the media darling of the NFL, but he couldn't get anything going against a swarming Saints defence who limited him to just 163 passing yards, no touchdowns and one interception.

The Saints are proving they can more than survive without Brees, the all-time passing yards leader, as they lean on a combination of defence and Bridgewater - although the QB struggled in truth against the Jags.

The Washington Redskins won the battle of the winless teams with a tight 17-16 victory over the Miami Dolphins in South Florida - as Miami took the lead in the 'battle' for the first pick of the next draft.

Kirk cousins has always been berated for not winning the big games, but he pulled out all the stops to help the Minnesota Vikings defeat NFC rivals Philadelphia Eagles 38-20 in Minneapolis.

The Cleveland Browns showed vast improvement from their Monday night hammering in San Francisco, but they couldn't quite get the better of the Seattle Seahawks and MVP contender Russell Wilson.

Wilson excels in close games and he ran one in himself, threw two more to Jaron Brown and led a 79-yard fourth-quarter drive that culminated in a Chris Carson one-yard run fr the winning touchdown in their 32-28 victory.

Nick Chubb ran in twice for the Browns who built up a 20-6 lead at the start of the second quarter, but they found themselves trailing by three going into the fourth.

Bayer Mafield and his side responded well but although they've got talent, they just haven't yet got the know-how of someone like Wilson, who has made his name winning close games and got another to move the Hawks on to an impressive 5-1 for the season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers held off the San Diego Chargers 24-17, having led 24-0.

James Conner scored two touchdowns, Devin Bush recovered a pair of turnovers and Devlin Hodges won his first NFL start as Pittsburgh took their record to 2-4.

Elsewhere, the San Francisco 49ers won 20-7 at the Los Angeles Rams to remain unbeaten, while there was a huge upset as the New York Jets edged the visiting Dallas Cowboys 24-22.

The Carolina Panthers won 37-26 over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in London, the Denver Broncos blanked the visiting Tennessee Titans 16-0, the Baltimore Ravens beat the visiting Cincinnati Bengals 23-17 and the Arizona Cardinals won 34-33 in a thriller at home to to the Atlanta Falcons.