Joe Mixon ran for three touchdowns to extend his TD streak to six games since coming back from injury, Derek Barnett returned a fumble 28 yards for a score, and the Texans beat the Cowboys 34-10 on Monday night.

The Texans (7-4) stopped just the second two-game losing streak of CJ Stroud’s young career while maintaining a two-game lead in the AFC South.

Houston pulled away in the second-half a week after a 26-23 last-play loss to Detroit at home, when the Texans let a 23-7 half-time lead get away from them.

“It’s not as bad as it ever seems, and it’s never as good as it ever seems,” Stroud said. “Those type of games, you have to come out with a win, especially going up like that at the half [against the Lions]. But what are we going to do about it?”

Amid a woeful season for the Cowboys (3-7) on the field, debris fell from their stadium’s retractable roof as it was opening a few hours before the game. There was no delay and no injuries were reported, just another mishap to foreshadow a fifth consecutive defeat for a team that lost five games total in each of the past three seasons.

Cooper Rush threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin but lost his second start since Dak Prescott’s season-ending hamstring injury.

The Dallas losing streak is their longest since a seven-game skid in 2015, and the Cowboys dropped to 0-5 at home. Dallas are the first team in NFL history to trail by at least 20 points in six consecutive home games, including last season’s wildcard playoff loss to Green Bay, according to Sportradar. The Cowboys had reached the playoffs in each of their previous three seasons, but that run is all but over.

“Well, they better be frustrated,” Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy said. “I mean, we’re all frustrated. I think there’d be something wrong if they weren’t frustrated. So just very honest with everything and stay in tune with what’s right in front of us. And that’s the only way I’ve ever done it.”

The Cowboys were down 20-10 early in the fourth quarter when Barnett knocked the ball out of Rush’s hand. Dallas rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton caught it and was trying to run when Jalen Pitre knocked the ball loose again. Barnett scooped up the ball and scored, although he almost stepped out of bounds.

“The play he made really changed for game for us,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It flipped the momentum. It got everybody juiced up on the sideline. It was just a huge play.”

Earlier, the Cowboys appeared to have pulled within a touchdown on a 64-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey, but Barnett was penalized for slapping Terence Steele on the rush. Dallas erased the points by taking the penalty, but Rush’s fourth-down pass from the Houston eight-yard line was incomplete on the only good scoring chance of the second half for the the Cowboys.

“The defense played with elite energy,” Ryans said. “One big play that we gave up. Like to have that one back, but overall I think our guys played really well.”

Texans receiver Nico Collins returned after missing five games with a hamstring injury and took a screen pass 77 yards to the end zone on the first play of the game, only to have it called back because of an ineligible receiver downfield.

That possession ended with a touchdown anyway on Mixon’s 45-yard sprint up the middle, and he ran wide for a one-yard score and a 14-0 lead. Mixon had 109 yards rushing on the day and set up a field goal with a 37-yard catch-and-run on a screen.

“I really love that first play because it showed what we could do in this game,” Ryans said. “Even though it got called back, I just told all our guys, ‘We can go score on these guys again. Just get it in your mind we’re going to score again.’”

Already without Prescott, the Cowboys lost tight end Jake Ferguson to a concussion and perennial All-Pro right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith to ankle injuries. Rush was sacked five times, three on the same possession when Martin and Smith were injured.

Stroud, who has been in a mini-slump, threw for 257 yards while avoiding any mistakes after an early interception on fourth down. It was the third time in five games he has gone without a touchdown pass, and he has two TDs and three picks in that stretch.

Rush was 32 of 55 for 354 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Turpin had three catches for 86 yards.

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Anaheim was rewarded with five goals in the game’s final 23 minutes, including a pair of power-play markers, as 13 total Ducks found the scoresheet.

“I think we’re just getting a little more confident [on the power play],” defenseman Olen Zellweger said. “We’re moving the puck well, passing it with some authority and I also thought the retrievals were really strong. The guys down low are working really hard to get those pucks back. I think we still got a lot of work and a lot of potential left on that power play for sure.”

As the Ducks now head to Texas, tonight’s lineup could again include some tweaks after a series of roster moves on Sunday. Anaheim recalled right wing Sam Colangelo, the San Diego Gulls’ leading goal scorer, and defenseman Tyson Hinds, while placing center Mason McTavish on injured reserve. A 2020 second-round pick and last season one of college hockey’s top goal scorers, Colangelo posted 15 points in 14 AHL games this fall. Hinds is yet to make his NHL debut.

McTavish has not played since Anaheim’s Nov. 8 game against Minnesota. The 21-year-old has points in four of his last five games and co-leads the Ducks in assists.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side tonight for Anaheim is one of the NHL’s top teams, a Stars squad trying to keep pace with the red-hot Jets and Wild for the Central Division lead. Dallas enters play Monday night with wins in three straight games and a 7-1-0 mark on home ice after back-to-back seven goals performances in wins over Boston and Pittsburgh before a nail-biting 2-1 victory against Minnesota on Saturday.

“That was a heavy, hard, playoff-type game out there,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer told NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce. “There was a lot of physicality, a lot of battles, not a lot of room, both goalies were great…We knew that and they’ve been playing really well. It was a good two points for us.”

“We could have had more [goals],” added winger Mason Marchment, who scored both Dallas goals. “Their goalie made some big saves, as well as [Jake Oettinger] did, a lot of key saves at big moments. That’s what he’s there for. I thought we played a pretty sound defensive game for the most part, too. They had a couple good looks and [Oettinger] is our backbone back there.”

Dallas (11-5-0, 22 points) sits third in the Central Division.