C.J. Stroud passed for 282 yards and a touchdown, Joe Mixon rushed for 106 yards and a score, and Eric Murray returned an interception for a touchdown as the host Houston Texans routed the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12 in an AFC wild-card game on Saturday.
Houston advanced to the divisional round for the second straight season. In other AFC action, the Baltimore Ravens used a potent rushing attack to run over the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 28-14 win.
After throwing just three interceptions in 504 passing attempts during the regular season, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was picked off four times on Saturday in Houston. Herbert was 14-for-32 for 242 yards and a touchdown.
"It's tough," Herbert said, "I let the team down."
"Gotta throw the ball away. Throw it further. Gotta do a better job of not putting the ball in harm's way," he added.
Not only was it a disappointing end of the season for Herbert, but for head coach Jim Harbaugh, as well. After leading the Chargers to an 11-6 record in the regular season in his first year back in the NFL since 2014, Harbaugh lost in the same building where he won the national championship with the University of Michigan a year ago.
The Chargers scored the first six points, on field goals of 35 and 39 yards by Cameron Dicker in the first 8½ minutes of the game. His second came after a Texans fumble gave Los Angeles a short field.
Ka'imi Fairbairn connected on field goals of 41, 37 and 30 yards for Houston.
Houston ran just four offensive plays during the first quarter and had two punts bookending a Stroud interception to start the second.
Fortunes changed just before halftime. Houston drove 99 yards in 13 plays, punctuating the possession with a 13-yard scoring pass from Stroud to Nico Collins with 58 seconds left in the second quarter.
Stroud extended the drive with a highlight-reel play entering the two-minute warning. He scooped up a fumbled snap, then scrambled to connect with Xavier Hutchinson for a 34-yard gain to the Los Angeles 49-yard line on third-and-16.
"To me that was the play of the game," Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. "That really created momentum for the game."
Herbert threw three straight incompletions on the ensuing Chargers possession, and Houston responded with Fairbairn's 41-yard field goal to take a 10-6 halftime lead.
The Texans scored the first 13 points after the intermission. Murray delivered the lone touchdown over that span with a 38-yard pick six with 13 seconds left in the third quarter.
Derek Stingley Jr. snagged two interceptions for Houston and Kamari Lassiter had another.
Herbert recovered from his third pick with an 86-yard pass-and-run touchdown to rookie Ladd McConkey following two straight Houston sacks, making the score 23-12. Houston blocked the extra-point attempt, however, and D'Angelo Ross returned it to the end zone for two points.
Mixon, who had 25 carries, capped the scoring with a 17-yard run with 3:42 left in the game.
The Chargers, by comparison, ran for 50 yards on 18 carries.
"I'm most proud of how we stopped the run, and then you make teams one-dimensional," Ryans said. "And that's what we did."
McConkey caught nine passes for 197 yards and a touchdown.
Collins had seven receptions for 122 yards and a score.
Houston outgained Los Angeles 429-261.
In Baltimore, Derrick Henry rushed for 186 yards and two scores and Lamar Jackson passed for two touchdowns to lead the Ravens over the Steelers.
Jackson completed 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and rushed for 82 yards on 15 carries while winning for the third time in seven attempts as a postseason starter. Rashod Bateman and Justice Hill had touchdown receptions for third-seeded Baltimore, which has won five straight games and will learn its next opponent on Sunday.
Henry, who carried 26 times, rushed for more than 150 yards for the fourth time in eight career playoff appearances. His postseason high of 195 came against the Ravens in the 2019 season divisional round when he was a member of the Tennessee Titans.
Russell Wilson was 20 of 29 for 270 yards and two touchdowns for sixth-seeded Pittsburgh, which trailed by 21 points twice while losing its fifth consecutive game. George Pickens had five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown and Van Jefferson also had a scoring reception for the Steelers.
The Ravens totaled 299 rushing yards and outgained Pittsburgh 464-280. Baltimore also had a 29-11 advantage in first downs.
The Steelers had just 29 yards on the ground, with a long gain of 5.
Baltimore receiver Zay Flowers (knee) missed the game.
The Ravens led 21-0 at halftime after dominating the first 30 minutes and putting together touchdown drives of 95, 85 and 90 yards.
Baltimore outgained the Steelers 308-59 and had a 19-2 edge in first downs in the half.
The Ravens took the lead on Jackson's 15-yard touchdown pass to Bateman with 4:45 left in the first quarter. Henry's 8-yard scoring run made it 14-0 with 4:09 left in the first half.
Jackson later scrambled out of trouble and hit Hill on a 5-yard scoring pass with two seconds remaining.
Pittsburgh suddenly displayed life in the third quarter as Wilson connected with Jefferson on a 30-yard scoring pass to cap a 98-yard drive with 8:05 left in the period. But Henry broke loose on the fourth play of Baltimore's next drive and galloped 44 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-7 with 5:49 left.
The Steelers scored again five plays later as Wilson tossed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Pickens with 3:24 left in the third, but that would be the end of the scoring for the night.
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