RECAP: Texans finally score in second half, defeat Cowboys 34-10

Football is weird. You can feel the deepest pit of despair at one point and then be sitting pretty at the end of the night.

Such is what happened for the Houston Texans tonight against the Dallas Cowboys .

Going into halftime, we had seen this story before: a sputtering offense bolstered by a defense doing its absolute best to keep the Texans in it while also, somehow, looking like they were doing anything but that.

The first quarter started very well with a 45-yard touchdown run for Joe Mixon (on a drive that started with a Nico Collins touchdown reception that was called back because of a Laremy Tunsil penalty) followed later in the quarter by a one-yard rush by Mixon to put the Texans up 14-0.

The second quarter was the stuff of Texans fans' nightmares. It started with a 64-yard touchdown reception by KaVontae Turpin and a field goal by Brandon Aubrey (separated by a sad Ka'imi Fairbairn field goal) to put the game 17-10 at the half.

Then the third quarter passed more or less quietly with another Fairbairn field goal to put the Texans up 20-10.

And then bedlam broke out in the fourth quarter. The Texans started the scoring with the most baffling touchdown the Texans have scored possibly all season. Jalen Pitre forced Cooper Rush to fumble the ball, only to have it caught by Cowboys guard Tyler Guyton, who would then fumble it thanks to a Jalen Pitre tackle, when Derek Barnett caught the fumble and returned it 28 yards to the end zone for the defensive touchdown.

It was sheer lunacy, a play that made me, if nobody else, think they were caught in a fever dream.

And then, toward the end, the Texans finally ended their streak of 23-straight second half drives without a touchdown by giving the ball to Joe Mixon for the final nail in the Cowboys' coffin.

The Texans, as you saw in the headline, would go on to win 34-10. Thank. Goodness.

Now I'm going to go and do something more relaxing, like juggle chainsaws. But y'all should keep the celebration going here!