Dare Ogunbowale's historic field goal tees up the Texans' miracle finish in win over Buccaneers
The Houston Texans pulled off a miracle finish to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as C.J. Stroud led them on a remarkable game-winning drive in a 39-37 thriller. But the miracle was only possible because of an arguably more incredible contribution from Dare Ogunbowale. The Texans were left without a kicker for most of a […]
The Houston Texans pulled off a miracle finish to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as C.J. Stroud led them on a remarkable game-winning drive in a 39-37 thriller.
But the miracle was only possible because of an arguably more incredible contribution from Dare Ogunbowale.
The Texans were left without a kicker for most of a captivating shootout after Ka'imi Fairbairn suffered a quadriceps injury in the first half, meaning Ogunbowale filled in on kickoffs while Houston went for three two-point conversion attempts prior to the game-winning series.
But they finally attempted a kick with 8:45 remaining in the fourth quarter, giving Ogunbowale a shot from 29 yards.
He spectacularly repaid their faith by splitting their uprights to give the Texans a 33-30 lead, becoming the first player not listed as a kicker or a punter to make a field goal since receiver Wes Welker in 2004.
The Buccaneers responded with a 10-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that gave Tampa Bay the lead with just 46 seconds remaining, only for Stroud to have the final say, authoring the most stunning paragraph yet in his Offensive Rookie of the Year resume with a six-play, 75-yard drive capped with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Tank Dell.
Houston took a knee on the subsequent two-point conversion attempt and prevail by a razor-thin margin. Stroud will rightly get all the plaudits, but his rookie record-breaking 470-yard performance likely would have been in vain without Ogunbowale's kicking prowess.
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