Where: Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Temperature: Dome
Head Official: Jeff Triplette
Attendance: 71540
Cam Newton threw a pair of touchdown passes against the NFL's top defense and the Carolina Panthers ended the Houston Texans' seven-game winning streak with a 28-13 road win Sunday at Reliant Stadium.
The Panthers (5-9) have had a tough time holding on to late leads, but they closed this one out when DeAngelo Williams had a 24-yard touchdown run. James Anderson then thwarted the Texans' rally by intercepting a T.J. Yates pass in the end zone.
The AFC South champion Texans (10-4) couldn't get anything going in the first half, as Newton threw touchdown passes to Steve Smith and tight end Jeremy Shockey. Richie Brockel added a 7-yard touchdown run for a 21-0 lead.
The Texans rallied to get within 21-13, but Williams finished off an 80-yard drive with his touchdown run to seal it.
Houston's Arian Foster rushed for 109 yards to surpass 1,000 yards for the second consecutive season.
| Carolina | Houston | |
| DeAngelo Williams | Player | Arian Foster |
| 15 | Attempts | 16 |
| 61 | Yards | 109 |
| 4.1 | Avg Yards | 6.8 |
| 1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
| 24 | Long | 22 |
| Carolina | Houston | |
| Steve Smith | Player | Arian Foster |
| 5 | Receptions | 5 |
| 82 | Yards | 58 |
| 16.4 | Avg Yards | 11.6 |
| 1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
| 26 | Long | 25 |
| Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
| Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
| Carolina | 316 | 166 | 150 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2.0 | 1 |
| Houston | 358 | 150 | 208 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 |
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Houston will play their next game on the road against Indianapolis.
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Carolina will play their next game at home against Tampa Bay.