Texans beat Bengals to win NFL playoff debut

Houston's Arian Foster ran 24 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns, powering the host Texans past Cincinnati 31-10 in the first National Football League playoff game in the team's 10-year history. Rookie quarterback T.J. Yates also threw a touchdown pass for the Texans, who will visit Baltimore next week for a second-round NFL playoff matchup. "We did a good job moving the ball up and down the field the entire game," Yates said. The way we ran the ball today, it will be hard to stop us in the playoffs." The Texans dropped their final three games of the regular season but held the Bengals scoreless over the game's final 34 minutes and Foster powered Houston's ground attack through Cincinnati's defense. "As soon as we settled down and got into the groove, we got it going pretty well," Foster said. "This team believes. We don't need anybody else to believe in us. We can do it for ourselves." The Detroit Lions were set to end a 12-year NFL playoff drought when they played at New Orleans in a later first-round game while Sunday's matchups find Atlanta at the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver. Texans defensive end J.J. Watt returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown with 52 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give Houston a 17-10 half-time lead. The Texans stretched the lead to 24-10 with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter when Yates connected with Andre Johnson on a 40-yard touchdown pass. "He did a good job getting open," Yates said. "That made it easy for me to throw him the touchdown pass." The Bengals won a team-record five games during the regular season after trailing in the fourth quarter, but two more interceptions thrown by Cincinnati rookie quarterback Andy Dalton in the final period snuffed out hope of a rally. After the second pickoff, Foster ran 42 yards around the right end for a touchdown with 5:15 remaining, sealing the Bengals' fate. Cincinnati was 9-0 during the season against teams that missed the playoffs but 0-7 against playoff-bound clubs. Cedric Benson's 1-yard touchdown run midway into the first quarter put the visiting Bengals ahead, but Houston equalized on Foster's 8-yard touchdown run with 4:57 remaining in the first quarter. The teams exchanged field goals early in the second quarter, Cincinnati's Mike Nugent kicking a 37-yarder and Houston's Neil Rackers following with a 39-yard effort.