DOWN X DOWN › week 2 › Bengals at Texans
Updated Nov 3, 9:16 AM ET
2026

Week 2 · Sunday 1:00 PM ET · Reliant Stadium

HOUvsCIN

Texans offensevsBengals defense

Season numbers through Week 8: 7 games for Texans, 7 for Bengals. Ranks are out of 32; #1 is the best offense or the stingiest defense.

How it played out · win probability, snap by snapFinal · CIN 20 · HOU 6

The Bengals won 20–6; their low point was 31% at Q2 8:45. The Texans had been 58% favorites at kickoff. The game turned for good at Q2 4:21: J.Burrow pass short middle to T.Higgins to HOU 32 for 23 yards (A.Al-Shaair). ** Injury Update: CIN-A.Mims has returned to the game (46% → 51%). The biggest single swing came at Q2 3:37, 16 points for the Bengals.

At kickoffHOU 58%HOU by 3 on the line
CIN low point31%Q2 8:45 · tied 0⁠–⁠0
Swings past 50%1times the favorite changed
Biggest swing16 ptsCIN · Q2 3:37
HOU wins50%CIN wins
Q1Q2Q3Q4

The plays that swung it

  1. 1Q2 3:37CINJ.Burrow pass deep right to J.Chase for 32 yards, TOUCHDOWN.51% → 67%+16 CIN
  2. 2Q3 7:33HOUK.Fairbairn 58 yard field goal is No Good, Short65% → 78%+13 CIN
  3. 3Q2 0:31CINR.Rehkow punts 58 yards to HOU 14 J.Noel to HOU 24 for 10 yards (D.Ivey; J.Giles-Harris).50% → 60%+10 CIN
  4. 4Q2 6:58HOUB.D.Montgomery right tackle to CIN 19 for -1 yards (D.Lawrence).33% → 42%+9 CIN
  5. 5Q3 3:12CINJ.Burrow pass deep right to J.Chase for 18 yards, TOUCHDOWN.82% → 90%+8 CIN
  6. ★Q2 4:21CINJ.Burrow pass short middle to T.Higgins to HOU 32 for 23 yards (A.Al-Shaair). ** Injury Update: CIN-A.Mims has returned to the game.turning point46% → 51%+5 CIN

Win probability is nflverse's model, which starts from the betting line and updates before every snap with the score, the clock, down, distance, field position and timeouts. A swing is the change in one team's chance across a play, in percentage points. Each play is tagged with the team that had the ball; the bar names the team it helped. The turning point is the play after which the winner never fell to 50% again.

Box score · every offensive player who touched the ballWeek 2

T.Higgins led the Bengals at +5.5 EPA (5 catches for 95). D.Schultz led the Texans at +7.5 EPA (12 catches for 140).

CIN Bengals

PassingC/AYdsTDINTSkEPA
J.Burrow100%20/3120725-0.6
RushingCarShareYdsTDEPA
C.Brown70%2087%80-3.9
S.Perine40%29%6-0.9
J.Burrow100%14%-10.0
ReceivingTgtShareRecYdsTDEPA
T.Higgins72%1032%595+5.5
J.Chase88%929%7752+3.9
C.Brown70%516%32-4.1
E.All42%310%25-1.0
S.Perine40%13%116+2.5
A.Iosivas53%13%17-0.3
D.Meyers18%13%00-0.8
C.Young17%13%17-0.2

Defense C.Johnson 2 sacks, J.Allen 1 sack, S.Stewart 1 sack · Kicking E.McPherson 2/2 FG, 2/2 XP, 8 pts

HOU Texans

PassingC/AYdsTDINTSkEPA
C.Stroud100%30/553534-6.4
K.Kroeger0/10-3.3
RushingCarShareYdsTDEPA
W.Marks48%844%8-6.7
D.Montgomery52%633%10-6.4
C.Stroud100%317%29+2.2
J.Noel60%16%13+1.1
ReceivingTgtShareRecYdsTDEPA
D.Schultz68%1428%12140+7.5
X.Hutchinson81%918%337-2.0
J.Wayne50%714%233-4.5
W.Marks48%612%527-0.2
K.Boutte72%510%337+0.4
J.Noel60%510%131-0.2
F.Moreau29%24%234+2.5
D.Montgomery52%24%214+0.4

Defense D.Hunter 1 sack, S.Rankins 1 sack, L.Hall 1 sack, W.Jr. 1 sack · Kicking K.Fairbairn 2/3 FG (58 no good), 6 pts

Each player's line for this game from nflverse's weekly stats; the percentage beside his name is his share of the offense's snaps. Share is his part of the team's carries or targets in this game. Defense lists sacks and interceptions; kicking lists field goals.

Keys to the game · from the season numbers, not this game alone4 reads
01
Biggest edge

Tight ends feast

Bengals give up 9.6 targets a game to tight ends (30th), against a league average of 7.6. Texans' tight ends produce 9.0 (5th).

02
Opportunity

Deep middle is open

Bengals are worst against deep middle throws, allowing +0.84 EPA per attempt. Texans send 5% of their throws there. That is a small part of their offense so far.

03
Watch out

Field goals, not touchdowns

Texans score a touchdown on 58% of red zone trips (20th). Bengals allow 42% (3rd).

04
Wash

Success rate

Call this one even. Texans succeed on 42% of plays (17th) against a defense that allows 44% (17th).

The series · Bengals and Texans since 1999, and this season's records15 meetings

The Texans lead the series 9–6 since 1999 (they first met in 2002). This game is the latest meeting.

Bengals at home2–5the Bengals' record
In Houston4–4the Bengals' record
Most pointsBengals 38 · Texans 352002 · 2008
Biggest winBengals by 35 · Texans by 292002 · 2008
Playoffs0–2the Bengals' record

The last 5

2026 · Wk 2CIN 20 at HOU 6
2023 · Wk 10HOU 30 at CIN 27
2020 · Wk 16CIN 37 at HOU 31
2017 · Wk 2HOU 13 at CIN 9
2016 · Wk 16CIN 10 at HOU 12

2026 records

BengalsTexans
Overall5–22–5
Division1–12–1
Conference4–22–3
Other conference1–00–2
Home2–10–4
Away3–12–1
Last 5LLWWWLLWWL
StreakWon 3Lost 1
Points a game29.4 – 22.623.6 – 24.3

Every meeting since 1999, regular season and playoffs, from nflverse's game list, which starts in 1999; the all-time series goes back further. Franchises that moved count as one team (the Raiders, Chargers and Rams). Home and away are from the Bengals' side. Records are this regular season.

Head to head · HOU offense against CIN defense
StatHOU HOU offFavors HOU · Favors CINCIN CIN def allowsNFL avg
Overall
EPA per play
+0.02#13
-0.01#15+0.00
Success rate
42%#17
44%#1744%
Yards per play
5.6#10
5.8#255.4
Explosive play rate
10%#12
11%#299%
Passing
Pass EPA per dropback
+0.11#13
-0.01#12+0.03
Sack rate
6%#11
9%#37%
Running
Run EPA per carry
-0.15#25
-0.08#18-0.08
Yards per carry
3.4#29
4.4#234.1
Money downs
3rd down conversion
38%#24
48%#2941%
Red zone TD rate
58%#20
42%#361%
Targets by position
WR yards per game
180#6
142#15147
TE yards per game
65#8
89#3155
TE targets per game
9.0#5
9.6#307.6
RB receiving yards per game
21#26
30#1232
Where the ball goes · EPA per throwDeep is 15+ air yds

Texans: EPA per throw

Left
Middle
Right
Deep
+0.035% of throws
+1.305% of throws
+0.2511% of throws
Short
-0.0122% of throws
+0.2723% of throws
+0.2434% of throws

Bengals: EPA allowed per throw

Left
Middle
Right
Deep
-0.0114 throws
+0.8411 throws
-0.3018 throws
Short
+0.3262 throws
+0.2951 throws
+0.1582 throws

Green gains more than expected, red loses value. Cells with fewer than 5 throws are grayed out.