4 winners & 1 loser in Houston Texans statement win over Cowboys

The Houston Texans improved to 7-4 with a 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.

Not only did they win the Battle for Texas, but they ended a two-game losing streak. More importantly, they outscored Dallas 17-3 in the second half — hopefully, putting an end to their second-half woes.

READ MORE: Texans fans will love the Jaguars sabotaging their opportunity to hire Bill Belichick

Houston was fired up by a crowd full of their fans in Dallas and that led to far more winners than losers this week.

Winner: John Metchie III, WR

Over the past couple of weeks, John Metchie III has gotten more playing time on offense but he makes the list for his special team's play on Monday. Dallas attempted a fake punt early in the game with Bryan Anger targeting safety Juanyeh Thomas.

Metchie was lined up against Thomas and wasn't fooled. He ran step-for-step with him and made the tackle as soon as the pass was hauled in. That led to a turnover on downs with Thomas gaining just four yards on fourth-and-nine. He recorded three catches for 33 yards but it was his defense that stood out most.

Winner: Derek Barnett, DE

Derek Stingley, Jr. single-handily shut down a Dallas drive in the third quarter, leading to a 64-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey. He calmly knocked that kick through the uprights but a flag was thrown on Derek Barnett, who was called for a "head-slap." The Texans lucked out as they forced a turnover on downs after that but Barnett's mistake could have made it a three-point game.

He redeemed himself in a big way when he picked up a strip sack in the fourth quarter. Tyler Guyton initially recovered the ball but fumbled again and Barnett put the game away with a defensive touchdown.

Winner: Derek Stingley, Jr., CB

Derek Stingley, Jr. has developed into one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL and had another solid outing in Week 11. In the first quarter, he recorded an interception, which might have been the easiest of his career.

That led to a touchdown for Houston, giving them a 14-0 lead. He also kept Dallas from getting into range for a field goal right before the half when he broke up a pass that hit Jalen Tolbert in the hands. Had Tolbert hauled it in, the Cowboys would have been at midfield with nine seconds and one timeout remaining. Instead, they turned it over on downs.

Stingley continued to play tight coverage on Lamb and even drew a flag for pass interference on a deep ball in the third quarter.

Loser: Laremy Tunsil, OT

The Houston offensive line has been a problem all year and they erased a huge play on the first snap Monday. The Texans had the ball first and C.J. Stroud threw a quick screed to Nico Collins, who took off for a 77-yard touchdown. Or at least it would have been a 77-yard touchdown if not for Laremy Tunsil.

Tunsil was flagged for being downfield illegally. That pushed them back five yards and erased the huge play for Collins. In the end, it didn't matter with Joe Mixon scoring a 45-yard touchdown, but it would have been nice for Collins to have that touchdown after missing five weeks.

Winner: Joe Mixon, RB

Joe Mixon was frustrated after putting up 46 yards on 25 attempts in Week 10. He made up for that with 46 yards on their first drive of the game. That included a 45-yard touchdown to put Houston up 7-0.

He wasn't done there, as he put the Texans up 14-0 when he ran in a one-yarder near the end of the first quarter. That gave him 62 yards and two scores in the first 15 minutes of the game.

He finished with 109 yards on the ground and 44 as a receiver with three touchdowns.

More Texans news and analysis: