Under the bright lights of Monday Night Football, DeAndre Hopkins found the end zone. Twice.
Hopkins scored on a two-yard touchdown catch to give the Texans a 14-3 lead over the New Orleans Saints heading into halftime. He then caught a 16-yard touchdown pass on Houston's first possession of the third quarter.
Deshaun Watson led the 16-play, 75-yard scoring drive that lasted 7:35 in the second quarter. Hopkins and Kenny Stills both extended the drive with catches on third down. Carlos Hyde ran 20-yards to move the ball down to the Saints 20-yard line. Duke Johnson caught a short pass and converted it into a 13-yard gain. After back-to-back plays by Hyde and Johnson for five yards each, Watson connected with Hopkins in the back of the endzone for the touchdown.
The Saints scored on a 30-yard Latavius Murray touchdown run to start the second half. Watson and the Texans offense responded with a scoring drive of their own. Hyde rushed for 13 yards on the first play of the drive. On third-and-8, Will Fuller caught a 15-yard pass from Watson to extend the series. Watson scrambled for 18 yards to move the Texans to the New Orleans 27-yard line. Hopkins caught the short pass over the middle and scored a 16-yard touchdown to give the Texans a 21-10 lead with 8:24 left in the third quarter.
Hopkins finished the game with a team-high eight catches for 111 yards receiving and the two scores.
The two-time All-Pro receiver now has 20 touchdowns in his 24 games with Watson and 49 touchdown receptions in his career.