Texans falter in OT as 27-21 loss to Giants leaves them at 2-5

HOUSTON (AP) — A stagnant offense and scores of defensive miscues led to yet another loss by the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Houston forced overtime against the New York Giants but couldn’t do anything right after that in the 27-21 loss that dropped the team to 2-5.

Now they’ll try and regroup to attempt to salvage a season that has not gone the way anyone on the team expected.

“We’re going to get a bunch of people talking crazy and want us to do this, do that: ‘he’s terrible, he’s bad, he should play like this, he should have done this,’” quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “We’ll just block out the noise and understand, we got ourselves in this hole, we’ve got to find a way to dig ourselves out.”

The Texans tied it Sunday when Stroud connected with Xavier Hutchinson on a 3-yard scoring grab with just under a minute to go in the fourth.

Houston got the ball first in overtime, but New York’s defense forced a three-and-out with Kayvon Thibodeaux dropping a potential interception on second down.

J.J. McCarthy, who was making his first start this season, found Malik Nabers for a 9-yard completion on first down. Then Cam Skattebo dashed 42 yards on second down to cap a 124-yard rushing performance before Devin Singletary scored on a 30-yard run on the next play to end it.

New York’s last two plays came on a day Houston’s defense allowed seven plays of at least 20 yards, including three for 40 yards or more.

“Everybody knows what they’re doing, where they should be and can put themselves in better positions to eliminate some explosives,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “So, I’ll take a look at that and see how I can help get the explosives down because when the explosives show up, that starts with me. I’ll see how I can fix that.”

While the defense was bad overall on Sunday, giving up a season-high 420 yards, it was especially awful against the run, allowing a season-worst 188 yards.

Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said that most of the problems in the run game come down to poor tackling and that they must find a way to fix that.

“It’s one thing if it’s a missed tackle then somebody else tackles it for a 1-yard gain,” he said. “But it’s like some of ours have been missed tackles like you just see on the last drive: missed tackle, explosive, missed tackle, touchdown. So it’s just tough.”

Not much is working on this underperforming team that has problems in all three phases. But the one thing the Texans have done consistently well this season is take care of the ball. They are tied for second in the NFL with just three turnovers after not turning the ball over again Sunday.

There are plenty of things to choose from here, but since the poor tackling was addressed earlier perhaps the second biggest problem is the team’s penalties.

Houston had 10 for 80 yards on Sunday. The Texans rank second in the NFL this season with 58 penalties for 508 yards.

“The penalties are ridiculous,” Ryans said. “This keeps happening over and over again, so we got to find a way to fix it or get different people in, so we don’t have the same mistakes over and over again.”

WR Tank Dell played his first game in 673 days on Sunday after recovering from a gruesome knee injury. He had one catch for 43 yards and returned a punt for 14 yards in limited action. Ryans said he will get more snaps as the season progresses and Dell is eager to return to form after having 1,376 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns combined in his first two NFL seasons.

Stroud, who has played well this season, threw two touchdown passes on Sunday but had a season-low 153 yards passing as the Texans failed to move the ball for most of the second half. They punted on their first three possessions after halftime before Stroud’s TD pass to Hutchinson that tied it.

“We have to address things, have hard conversations and I have to be better myself,” Stroud said. “There’s a lot of accountability that needs to be had and we’ll be able to hopefully get those things fixed.”

WR Jaylin Noel suffered a turf toe injury on Sunday. ... RB David Montgomery has missed the past two games with a groin injury. … S Jalen Pitre has a shoulder injury that has also kept him out the past two games. … S Reed Blankenship missed Sunday’s game after sustaining a concussion in the previous game.

7 ½ -- DE Will Anderson still leads the NFL with 7 ½ sacks despite having zero in the past two games.

The Texans have a week to regroup during their bye this week before resuming play with a visit to the Chargers on Nov. 8.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo (44) scores with Houston Texans safety Calen Bullock, front right, defending during the second half of an NFL football game in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Smith)

Houston Texans wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson (19) celebrates after scoring during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo (44) carries the ball with Houston Texans safety Calen Bullock (2) and cornerback Kamari Lassiter, center, defending during overtime in an NFL football game in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud walks off the field after an overtime loss to the New York Giants in an NFL football game in Houston, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Smith)

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan carried out airstrikes against armed groups in Syria in retaliation for Friday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox Church in the southern Jordanian city of Karak that killed nine people, the Jordanian air force said in a statement.

It said the operation “resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles.” It did not specify who the groups were or the precise location of the strikes.

Syrian state media reported that civilians had been killed in the strikes. The director of health in the southern province of Daraa, where the strikes took place, told state news agency SANA that at least five civilians had been killed, including women and children and a 65-year-old man.

Earlier Monday, Jordanian authorities arrested three men for last week's attack, which also wounded more than two dozen people. The arrests followed a dawn shootout, and all three men were wounded, officials said.

The attack struck the Greek Orthodox Church during a funeral in Karak, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the capital, Amman, on Friday. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.

The attack shocked the nation, and Jordan declared three days of mourning for the victims. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack; the attackers' motive remained unknown.

Later Monday, the Public Security Directorate identified the three arrested men as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad, and their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein. All three are Jordanian; they were taken into custody in Karak, south of Amman.

The agency's chief described the gunmen as “takfiri,” a term used for Sunni militants, but said they were not tied to any organized group.

“They only represent themselves,” Maj. Gen. Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta told a news conference. He also said a large cache of munitions was found in the abandoned house where Jordanian forces apprehended the men.

Jordan’s Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said the attack by the three was the result of “a terroristic, extremist way of thinking.”

“If this way of thinking is not resolved, we will see incidents like this again,” he told reporters.

Jordan's King Abdullah II had ordered authorities to respond with “an iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.

“We vowed the terrorists would not escape punishment, and no proponent of dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Relatives of the victims said the arrests brought them some relief.

“Despite the profound and immense tragedy, what happened today has eased our grief — and the grief of the Jordanian people — not just for us, the families of the martyrs," Khaled al-Borqan, himself a survivor of the attack and a relative of three of the people killed, told Al-Mamlaka.

“Despite the sadness and pain, the news brought us joy,” Fares Halaseh, an uncle of one of the victims and a survivor of the attack, told the TV station.

But the pain remains, he added. "We will not forget this agony for years to come.”

Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Jordanian honor guards carry a flag-draped coffin of on of the victims killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during their funeral procession in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Armed Jordanian police officers patrol near mourners during the funeral of victims killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Relatives mourn as they hold a framed portrait of a victim killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral ceremony in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)