The Texans were down by 10 points at the intermission of Sunday’s game against the Chargers.

But it didn’t matter to Deshaun Watson.

The third-year quarterback engineered a trio of Texans touchdown drives and Houston roared back from a 17-7 deficit to triumph by a 27-20 margin in Carson, CA. On the final scoring drive, with 9:40 remaining in the game, he shook off a few Chargers pass rushers and was able to find a wide-open Jordan Akins. The second-year tight end sprinted 55-yards for six points, and the Texans held on for the win.

“Deshaun’s been doing that forever, since he’s been playing football,” receiver DeAndre Hopkins said. “Us as receivers, we know what Deshaun’s going to do. We know he’s not going to go down easy, so we always keep our routes alive.”

Hopkins wound up with six catches for 67 yards. He was one of four different Texans pass-catchers who had a reception of 30 yards or longer.The 55-yarder to Akins came about after Watson eluded pressure and got it to his tight end.

“No one was over there, so I just kind of flicked him the ball,” Watson said. “He made a play after that. That was pretty much it.”

Defensive end J.J. Watt, who rang up two sacks and two tackles for loss, loved seeing what his quarterback did on Sunday.

“He’s an unbelievable player,” Watt said. “You’re never out of a game. It’s always a lot of fun to sit on the bench and watch him play, because you never know what you’re going to see.”

Watson completed 25-of-34 passes for 351 yards, with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. His QB rating was 135.8.

After the break, he was 12-of-17 for 199 yards and two scores to Akins.

From Watt’s vantage point, which wasn’t good, the final Watson-to-Akins touchdown had the defense in an “ecstatic” state.

“I can’t see a ton from the sidelines,” Watt said. “He escaped out of there, which he does all the time which is crazy, and he threw it to him. I looked up at the scoreboard to see where he was going to run to, and there wasn’t a single other person there on the screen. I was like ‘Well, this could be good.’ And then he kept going, and going, and he scored.”

Watson was sacked just two times on Sunday, and gave a lot of credit to his offensive line, which saw left guard Max Scharping get his first NFL start, and Zach Fulton and Tytus Howard lining up on the right side at guard and tackle respectively.

By Howard Beck via Bleacher Report – The beard is still lush and vibrant, an impenetrable forest of facial camouflage. The man behind it, also known as The Beard, is equally spirited and inscrutable. But his steel-wooled facade has just cracked, albeit slightly.

So, about that 30th birthday you recently celebrated…

“Don’t remind me!” James Harden interjects, as if the mere mention of the milestone might buckle his knees and send his hairline into recession.

The Houston Rockets star isn’t here for your rocking-chair jokes, your stats on mid-career players or your musings on athletic mortality. He is, however, smiling wryly through this gentle protest, his defensiveness more than offset by his bravado.

Yes, Harden stared down 30 candles on Aug. 26, and yes, it was a bit jarring—”in the worst way,” he tells B/R—but The Beard has never felt friskier or more confident.

And why not? The man has back-to-back scoring titles, a half-dozen All-NBA awards and a semi-permanent place in the MVP race. One of his best friends and fellow All-Stars, Russell Westbrook, joined his team this summer. And his greatest nemesis is in tatters.

The Golden State Warriors, who have stymied Harden at every turn for years, are mortal again, having lost Kevin Durant to Brooklyn and Klay Thompson to a serious knee injury.

There are no dynasties to topple, no superteams blocking the horizon.

The NBA suddenly feels wide-open, a portrait of superstar equilibrium: LeBron and AD (Lakers), Kawhi and PG13 (Clippers), Embiid and Simmons (76ers), KD and Kyrie (Nets).

And in Houston, James and Russ.

It’s now the Rockets, not the Warriors, who boast two recent MVPs…

The Astros weren’t going to be denied on this day. Not with Justin Verlander on the mound with a chance to win 20 games. Not with George Springer swinging the bat like he wanted to single-handedly carry the day. And not with a sellout crowd ready to throw a party at Minute Maid Park.

Even though the Astros led the American League West by 10 games in June and were never really threatened in the division race, they were still in a mood to celebrate what seemed liked a foregone conclusion Sunday afternoon after beating the Angels, 13-5, to win their third straight AL West title.

Springer clobbered home runs in each of his first three at-bats and Verlander reached 20 victories for the second time in his career to send the Astros to their ninth division title. The Astros (102-54) stayed a half-game ahead of the Yankees for the best record in MLB and need only one win in their final six games to tie the franchise record for most victories in a season.

“I’m happy for the fans, happy for the city and happy for us a team,” Springer said. “A lot has to go right for us to do this and a lot of hard work has to get put into it. It did, and we’re starting to see it.”

When closer Roberto Osuna got Kaleb Cowart to pop out for the final out of game, the Astros headed to the middle of the diamond to celebrate. Soon, they danced jubilantly in a huddle. In a wet clubhouse a few minutes later, manager AJ Hinch told his club they’re the best team in the big leagues and that they’re winning in the face of high expectations. He challenged them to hang another World Series pennant.

“We worked for it all year, and this is not easy,” Hinch said. “These guys put in the work and we get to the finish line and win the West. We feel really good about it. We love this team. We can accomplish big things, and this is the first step, hopefully, of a few of these celebrations if we keep playing.”

• What’s next for Astros?

Coming off winning the 2017 World Series championship, the Astros lost in five games last year to the eventual champions, the Red Sox, in the AL Championship Series. But Houston returned its core position players and a rotation led by Verlander and Gerrit Cole, so expectations were high.

The Astros overcame significant injuries to Springer, Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, but they were buoyed by the addition of rookie slugger Yordan Alvarez and pulled off a stunning deal at the July Trade Deadline to add former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to their stacked rotation. They became the World Series favorites.

“I keep telling these guys, you have to appreciate the team we have and the era you’re in and the group you have,” Hinch said. “To do it one after another is great for the people that have been here. We also have some guys who won their first AL West with us. We just keep a winning culture, winning mindset. We show up ready to play every day. We’ll soak this up. We had a lot of individual achievements this year, but it was never about that. It was about winning.”

• Top 10 moments of Astros’ season

Astros president of baseball operations and general manager Jeff Luhnow, who proclaimed this year’s team is better than last year’s club that was bounced in the ALCS, said clinch day is his favorite day of the year.

“It means we’ve actually accomplished the first major step,” Luhnow said. “We know we have a lot of work to do because the eight teams that are going to be left after the Wild Card Game are going to be good, too. We put together a team here that can beat any of them in any given series.”

Verlander (20-6) struck out five in five innings and is six punchouts shy of becoming the 18th pitcher to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. He will have one final chance to get there this season when he starts Saturday against the Angels in Anaheim in his final regular-season outing. Verlander has only reached the mark in 2011, when he won 24 games for the Tigers.

• How the postseason roster is shaping up

“Call me old school, but wins mean something to me,” Verlander said. “I think our job as a starting pitcher is to be out there late in games and pitch a lot of innings. That’s how you win ballgames. It’s a fickle stat. You can lose some close ones when you pitch well and you can win when you don’t pitch well, but over the course of 34 starts, if you do your job, more often than not you’re going to come out with a winning record.”

Springer homered in the first and second innings off Angels starter Jose Rodriguez and in the fourth off relief pitcher Jose Suarez to give the Astros a 4-2 lead. That tied him with Bregman for the team lead with 38 homers, but Bregman hit a two-run homer in the fifth — his 39th — to push the lead to 6-2. Alvarez had four hits. Aledmys Diaz added a three-run homer in the sixth.

The Astros went 60-21 at home, joining the 1998 Yankees as the only teams in the last 40 years to win 60 home games in a season. In the final week, they’ll be trying to hold off the Yankees and get home-field advantage through the ALCS.

“We’ve got to take it one step at a time,” Bregman said. “We’ve got a few games left in the regular season, and we want to finish strong. We want our guys to go into the postseason feeling healthy, and I think we’re off to a great start.”

Brian McTaggart has covered the Astros since 2004, and for MLB.com since 2009. Follow @brianmctaggart on Twitter.

Houston Dynamo forward Christian Ramirez and midfielder Boniek García have been named to the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week for Week 29, Major League Soccer announced today.

Both players played crucial roles in Houston’s 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Orlando City SC on Saturday night at BBVA Stadium. The win was Houston’s second in a row at home under interim head coach Davy Arnaud, and it kept the Dynamo’s playoff hopes alive as they head out for a two-game road trip this week.

Ramirez earned Man of the Match honors on Saturday as he set up the equalizing goal with a pinpoint cross in the 70th minute that allowed teammate Alberth Elis to head the ball into the net, and then tapped in the game-winner three minutes later with a crafty run inside the penalty area that allowed him to get on the end of a pass from forward Mauro Manotas in front of an empty net.

Although he didn’t fill up the stat sheet the way that Ramirez did, García was impossible to miss on Saturday night. The 35-year-old Honduran international, who is in the midst of a resurgent season in which he has already set career-highs for games started (27) and minutes played (2,319) covered virtually every blade of grass on the pitch over the course of the match. Playing centrally in Houston’s 4-4-2 alignment, García helped control the pace of the match with a game-high 84 touches and 69 passes. He also contributed three tackles defensively and won three fouls in his 90-minute shift.

The Dynamo head west this week for a pair of road fixtures. First they’ll take on league-leading LAFC Wednesday night at Banc of California Stadium (9:30 p.m. CDT) before traveling to Utah to face Real Salt Lake on Sunday evening (6:30 p.m. CDT). Both matches will be televised live locally on KUBE 57 in English and in Spanish on TeleXitos 47.2. Univision Radio 1010 AM will air both games in Spanish.