In the NFL's Thursday Night Football matchup, the Houston Texans paid a visit to the Cincinnati Bengals. While the season is young, both teams looked like they may struggle after dropping their Week 1 games. However, one had to bounce back, and it was the Texans. Thanks to quarterback Deshaun Watson, they managed to leave with a 13-9 victory. Here's the latest Texans vs. Bengals game recap including top performers, stats, standings, and what's next for the teams.

Game recap

In Thursday night's win for the Houston Texans, DeShaun Watson took over as the team's starter.

Watson had replaced struggling QB Tom Savage after the first half of Houston's Week 1 loss to the Jaguars. He carried his momentum into this game by throwing 15-for-24 to get 125 yards total. Despite being sacked three times for 27 yards lost, Watson was also the team's top rushing yards leader. That was thanks to a huge 49-yard touchdown run, the only score for the team in the end zone all game. Lamar Miller had 18 carries for 61 yards and D'Onta Foreman had 12 carries for 40 yards.

In terms of the receiving core, DeAndre Hopkins was Watson's favorite target as he was thrown to 13 times in the game.

Hopkins finished with 73 yards on seven catches. Lamar Miller had three catches for 26 yards, while two other receivers combined for 26 yards on five catches.

On the losing side, the Cincinnati Bengals struggled to score for a second-straight week. After a scoreless first game, they ended up with just nine points Thursday. Luckily, kicker Randy Bullock showed up and gave the team a 3-for-3 field goal kicking day to give them those nine points.

However, their inability to get to the end zone showed. Andy Dalton threw 20-for-35 for 224 yards but no touchdowns. Rookie Joe Mixon led on the ground with nine carries for 36 yards.

The win gave DeShaun Watson a nice gift as Thursday was also the former Clemson QB's birthday. As ESPN noted, Watson arrived at the game in a black tuxedo before helping lead his team to victory on the football field.

Standings & what's next

The win moves the Houston Texans to 1-1 on their season, with a 1-0 away record and 0-1 home record. It's still early, but Houston is second in their AFC South division to the 1-0 Jaguars. Houston tries to make it a 2-1 start to their season next week as they visit Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

For the Cincinnati Bengals, the struggles continue as they are 0-2 to begin the season. As one might expect, the team ranks dead last in the AFC North division with their losing record. Both losses have come at home, showing they could be in trouble on the road. They'll find out on Sunday, September 24th as they visit the Green Bay Packers with game time slated for 4:25 p.m. Eastern Time.
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