In his 132nd NFL game over 11 seasons, safety Jimmie Ward of the Houston Texans achieved something he hadn’t done in the previous 131: he didn’t score a touchdown.
With four seconds remaining in Sunday’s third quarter, the former Davidson High School standout intercepted Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown, giving the Texans a one-point lead.
Houston, however, succumbed to the Titans 32-27 after failing to maintain its lead in the last period.
Ward had 66 interception-return yards going into Sunday’s game, but he has now returned three of his ten career interceptions for touchdowns.
On Sunday, Ward experienced something for the first time in his tackle statistics. Three tackles for loss, the most he had ever made in a game, were among his six tackles. Ward had two games with two tackles for the loss going into Sunday’s match; the most recent one occurred on January 3, 2016, two weeks after his first two-TFL game.
On the 12th Sunday of the NFL’s 105th season, Ward was one of 27 players from Alabama high schools and colleges (apart from Alabama and Auburn) to take the pitch.
The Tennessee-Houston matchup featured five additional former state players:
1. Chandler Brewer (Florence), an offensive tackle with the Titans, is on the practice squad and cannot play.
2. The Texans’ wide receiver Nico Collins (Clay-Chalkville) started. Collins hauled in five passes for 92 yards and one score. With 6:17 remaining in the first half, Collins grabbed a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback C.J. Stroud to help Houston trim Tennessee’s lead to 17-14. Collins had a 56-yard reception to the Titans’ 9-yard line later in the second quarter, which led to a field goal and a 17–17 tie.
3. The tank For the Texans, Dell (Alabama A&M) began at wide receiver. Dell caught three passes for a total of 72 yards.
4. The Texans started Tytus Howard, an Alabama State native from Monroe County, at right offensive lineman.
5. The Texans started American Christian Kamari Lassiter at cornerback. Four tackles were made by Lassiter.
