Texans top Bengals for first playoff win

HOUSTON -- The Houston Texans turned to their kids, then to their stars yesterday to win the first playoff appearance in franchise history, a 31-10 rout of the bungling Cincinnati Bengals.

J.J. and T.J. and Andre and Arian.

Rookie J.J. Watt's leaping interception return for a touchdown late in the first half propelled the Texans in the AFC wild-card game.

Third-string quarterback T.J. Yates, another rookie pressed into action, threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Andre Johnson and Arian Foster followed with his second touchdown of the game, a 42-yard run in the fourth quarter, to finish off the Bengals.

After nine seasons of going home early, the AFC South champion Texans are heading to AFC North winner Baltimore next Sunday for a divisional-round game.

"This team believes," Foster said. "I've never been on a team like this. We don't need anyone else to believe because we believe in ourselves."

Watt returned the first of rookie Andy Dalton's three interceptions 29 yards for a score that broke a 10-all tie with 52 seconds left in the half.

Yates then hit Johnson on a TD pass late in the third quarter and Foster added his long scoring run to put away the Bengals.

Foster scored on an 8-yard run in the first quarter to tie the score at 7 and finished with 153 yards on 24 carries.

"The way we ran the ball today, it will be hard to stop us in the playoffs," Yates said. "We did a good job moving the ball up and down the field all day."

Dalton was 24-for-42 for 257 yards. Yates was 11-for-20 for 159 yards in the first playoff game in the Super Bowl era matching two rookie quarterbacks.

As the final seconds ticked away, Houston coach Gary Kubiak walked down the sideline wearing a broad smile and smacked hands with players and assistant coaches.

He embraced Johnson -- the franchise's best player -- in a moment that was a decade in the making.

And two rookies helped make it happen.

Houston took Watt with the 11th overall pick in last year's draft, a cornerstone for the reconstruction of the Texans defense. He started all 16 games and led the team with 13 tackles for loss.

But he'd never picked off a pass.

Watt saw this one coming, measuring his jump when Dalton dropped back and snatching the ball with both hands. He sprinted to the end zone as the capacity crowd exploded, and he raised both hands after reaching the end zone.

Watt became the sixth defensive lineman to return an interception for a touchdown in postseason history -- excluding the Super Bowl -- and the first rookie to do it.

Dalton, meanwhile, rolled his eyes and shook his head as he walked to the Cincinnati bench and watched the replay on the giant scoreboard.