Bengals done in by many mistakes

Associated Press

HOUSTON

Andy Dalton rolled his eyes and shook his head.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ rookie quarterback couldn’t believe the play J.J. Watt made that turned the game around for the Houston Texans.

The 6-foot-5 defensive end fought off a blocker, leaped in front of Dalton’s pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown. It gave Houston the lead just before halftime, and the Texans never looked back in a 31-10 victory in the AFC wild-card game Saturday.

“He jumped up and made a play,” Dalton said. “It was a great job on his part.”

Watt, also a rookie, works on plays like that in practice, but had never had an interception. And this one helped the Texans to the first playoff win in franchise history.

“I was really just trying to put my hands up and get in the way of the passing lane,” Watt said. “It happened to kind of stick. I realized I had the ball, so I just ran to the end zone just trying not to fall down.”

The Bengals were making their third playoff appearance in seven seasons, but haven’t won since 1991, when they beat the Houston Oilers 41-14.

“I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to put us in position today to win the football game and get us over the hump here,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.

Chris Crocker dropped an interception on a drive by Houston in the third quarter. A dejected Crocker sat at his locker with his head down for a long time after the game.

“It was a touchdown if I would have caught it,” Crocker said. “They made those big plays and we didn’t and that’s why they’re moving on.”

Three plays later came another of those plays. The Texans stretched the lead to 24-10 when Andre Johnson juked Adam “Pacman” Jones on a double move to get in front of him for a 40-yard touchdown reception.

“I’ve got to make that play,” Jones said. “It’s a tough one, but I’m not going to beat myself up too much over it. All I can do is learn from this experience.”

The Bengals had trouble containing Johnson, who was at full speed for the first time since injuring his left hamstring Dec. 4 and finished with 90 yards receiving.

Dalton was 24 of 42 for 257 yards, while fellow rookie T.J. Yates was 11 of 20 for 159 yards in the first playoff game in the Super Bowl era matching two rookie quarterbacks.

Dalton had thrown just one interception in the past six games, but was intercepted three times on Saturday. The second came when he threw a long pass under heavy pressure which was intercepted on fourth down by former Bengal Johnathan Joseph.

Danieal Manning, signed along with Joseph to shore up Houston’s secondary in the offseason, grabbed the third one midway through the fourth quarter.

That led to a 42-yard touchdown run by Arian Foster that made it 31-10.

Dalton, who grew up in the Houston suburb of Katy and played in college at TCU, was sacked a season-high four times.