Sunday night was a revenge game of sorts for Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III.
The last time he was at NRG Stadium in Houston he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Week 9 last season), and he admittedly had his worst game as a professional. He gave up three touchdowns, including the game winner to Tank Dell in the final minutes of a 39-37 loss.
"For me personally, last year I played in this stadium when I was with the Bucs and had a terrible game, probably one of the worst games I've ever had in my life," Davis said after Detroit's 26-23 victory over the Texans. "So just coming back here one year later, I think it was the same time last year, I gave up a winning touchdown and that was just heavy on my heart. I wanted to get payback."
Boy did he.
Davis came up with two huge second-half interceptions as Detroit's defense shut out the Texans in the second half and the Lions orchestrated a come-from-behind win from a 23-7 halftime deficit.
On the first play of the second half, Davis jumped an out route to record the first interception by a Lions cornerback this season. It didn't lead directly to points, but it did flip the field and lead to points a couple drives later. Davis said he baited Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud into throwing the out route he jumped.
"If you watch the film, I jump outs all the time. I'm in good position on every out," Davis said. "And I know this team likes to run out, run out and then go double move, so I wasn't playing it too hard.
"They were throwing it, completing it and I knew coming out of halftime that they would want to go back to that because they're a team that loves to repeat successful plays. So, when they back to it they gave me the set that I was looking for and we were in the right call, I knew I would jump it."
Later in the third quarter, Davis again stepped in front of a Stroud pass intended for Dell, this time in the Lions end zone to take points off the board for the Texans in what ended up being a walk-off win for Detroit.
"When we were losing, I just told myself, 'Bro, we gotta make a play,'" Davis said. "Like, I'm not going out sad to these guys twice. They're a great team, well-coached guys, but we are too.
"The emotional state just kind of took over and I was like, I'm making a play regardless, man. Can't leave this stadium twice, two years in a row, not being able to say I'm a winner and not being able to overcome this team."
Davis totaled four solo tackles, two passes defended and two interceptions on the night. He reached 10 passes defended on the season, the fifth time he's done that in his last six seasons.
The Lions traded for Davis this past offseason and he's been everything they've hoped he'd be. He brings a veteran presence to the cornerback room that's been good for all the young players in there, especially rookie starter Terrion Arnold on the opposite side. Opposing passers have just an 80.3 passer rating throwing his direction this season.
Davis said Sunday's win was a gritty performance by the Lions.
"You look up the meaning of that word and it will tell you everything else," he said. "Just grit, bro. That's all we're made of. Just grit."
