Before Sunday, Ryan Moats’ biggest claim to fame came when a cop kept him from getting to his mother-in-law’s death bed.
On Sunday, a fumble by second-year tailback Steve Slaton opened the door for Moats to rush for 126 yards and three touchdowns in a blowout win that moved the Texans to 5-3 and into the thick of the wild-card chase.
“Ryan took
advantage of the situation,” coach Gary Kubiak said after the game.
So will Moats be the new starter in place of Slaton? “We’ll go to next
week,” Kubiak said. “We’ll see.”
The career-high performance was only the second 100-yard game of Moats’ career, and the first since he rushed for 114 yards on 11 carries in December 2005 as a rookie with the Eagles.
In the interim, Moats was out of football for an entire season, in 2007.
All three of his scores came in the fourth quarter, as the Texans turned a one-point deficit into a 21-point win.
But it wasn’t all good news for the Texans. Tight end Owen Daniels has been lost for the year with a knee injury, and quarterback Matt Schaub threw two interceptions against no touchdowns.
The Houston defense did well, however, holding the Bills to only one field goal after rookie Jairus Byrd’s second interception of the day resulted in a 29-yard touchdown run from receiver Terrell Owens, only his second visit to the end zone in eight games.
For a change in a Bills game, the better team indeed won. Houston outgained the home team by a margin of more than two to one, and the Texans managed 24 first downs while the Bills had only nine.
And so Buffalo is now 3-5, two full games and a tiebreaker behind the Texans in the chase for the sixth seed in the AFC postseason field.
Coach Dick Jauron, whose seat had cooled considerably via two straight wins, accepted blame for the poor offensive output.
“Oh, I think the whole thing falls on me,” Jauron said, per the Buffalo News. “I don’t think there’s any doubt. I take full responsibility for it.”
At this rate, Jauron will soon be taking the full consequences, too.
florio, i think you jinxed slaton….. i hate him. i took him early in my draft, he started slow but was getting it together, now this? i had a chance to trade his sorry ass this week but didnt, now i am stuck with him. thanks steve….hold on to the frigin ball!!!!!!!