Rookie QB C.J. Stroud threw five touchdown passes, the last one a 15-yard strike to fellow rookie Tank Dell with six seconds left to lead the Houston Texans to a 39-37 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at NRG Stadium.
That score came just 40 seconds after Cade Otton had appeared to score the game-winner on a 14-yard pass from Baker Mayfield that put the visitors up by four points with 46 seconds left. But Stroud directed a six-play, 75-yard drive in the remaining seconds as Houston's offense finished just four yards shy of 500 on the day.
Stroud wrote another chapter in his historic rookie season, throwing for a career-high 470 yards, the most passing yards in a game by a rookie in NFL history, and five touchdowns. The Buccaneers took the lead with 46 seconds remaining, but Stroud found Dell for the game-winning touchdown.
The Texans had three players with at least 100 receiving yards: Dell, Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown. Houston's wild win included a 29-yard field goal by running back Dare Ogunbowale, the first non-kicker to hit a field goal in a regular-season game since Wes Welker in 2004.
The Texans will have a tough time trying to match the Buccaneers' offensive firepower. Houston will take the field with the services of running back Dameon Pierce, who will miss his first game of the season due to an ankle injury. Devin Singletary will start in Pierce's place.
The team lost despite holding the Panthers to a paltry 224 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to the Texans' ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid him out six times before it was all said and done. The heavy lifting was done by Maliek Collins and Jonathan Greenard who racked up 4.5 sacks between them.
The Texans' last possession started at the 25 and got a quick 14 yards on an underneath pass to Schultz. After using their second timeout, the Texans went back to Houston for six more but McCollum's open-field tackle kept him inbounds and forced the use of their last timeout. Stroud hit Brown at the Bucs' 41 and spiked the ball with 15 seconds left. Stroud then got the ball to Dell just inbounds at the Bucs' 15 and he ran out of bounds with 10 seconds left. On the next play, Stroud hit Dell again, this time in the end zone for the winning score with six seconds left.
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