Rookie wideouts Higgins and Noel ignited the Texans' offense, delivering explosive plays in a playoff-clinching victory that will be remembered.

After an 0-3 start to the season, the Houston Texans have officially stamped their ticket to a third straight playoff appearance.

Ryans has led the Houston revival. When the former Alabama All-American linebacker left his post as the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator to become the Texans head coach in January 2023, Houston had won 11 games across the previous three seasons, without having more than four victories in any of them.

In just three plays, C.J. Stroud found second-round rookie Jayden Higgins for a 75-yard touchdown pass—the longest by a rookie in Texans franchise history—then followed that up with another touchdown on the very next drive within four plays, finding their other rookie receiver, Jaylin Noel, on a 43-yard pass.

After a bruising win over the Chargers on Saturday, the Texans are back in the playoffs, with a defense as good as any in the NFL.

Houston moved past the Chargers in the AFC wild-card rankings with its win on Saturday. If the season were to end today, the Texans would travel to Jacksonville to take on their divisional rivals the Jaguars in the first round of the playoffs.