The injuries keep piling up for the Houston Texans , but they have still found a way to string together a franchise-record six straight wins.

The slumping Cincinnati Bengals would settle for one victory at this point.

With All-Pro wide receiver Andre Johnson out, rookie third-string quarterback T.J. Yates will be under center for the Texans on Sunday when they could clinch their first AFC South title with a team-record 10th win.

Now that Matt Schaub (foot) and Matt Leinart (collarbone) are out for the season, the Texans (9-3) have given the keys to their offense to Yates, a fifth-round pick from North Carolina.

Houston, though, is not expecting the rookie to carry the club, especially with Arian Foster and Ben Tate leading the NFL's third-ranked rushing attack at 152.6 yards per game. The Texans are also second in total defense allowing 271.4 yards per game and points allowed per contest with 15.8.

Yates was sacked three times and missed a few throws in his first NFL start last Sunday, a 17-10 victory over Atlanta, but Texans coach Gary Kubiak will gladly take a 188-yard effort with a touchdown and no interceptions.

"Just his play, in particular, was encouraging," Kubiak said Monday. "He can get a lot better, and there are so many things he'll learn from throughout the course of the game, and watching himself on tape, play that many plays."

Yates also has the benefit of learning the ropes from two of the most experienced backups in the NFL. Jake Delhomme signed with the Texans last week and 41-year-old Jeff Garcia will be the No. 3 quarterback Sunday after inking a deal Wednesday.

Yates, though, will not have Johnson to throw to after the team's all-time leading receiver suffered a mild left hamstring injury last week. It was Johnson's second game back after missing six following surgery on his right hamstring.

"It's very disappointing," Johnson said. "You work your butt off to get back after missing six games and then to have something like this to happen again is very frustrating. But at the same time, the team's in a great position. I'm just trying to do everything I can to get back, so that I can get back out on the field and play."

Without Johnson, the Texans will go for a season record for wins. If that happens and second-place Tennessee falls to New Orleans on Sunday, Houston will clinch the South and its first playoff berth.

The Bengals' road to the postseason is not as clear cut, as they have dropped three of four following a 5-0 run. Cincinnati's last three losses have come against Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

"Anybody would have a tough time with that stretch but they're right in the middle of a playoff race," Kubiak said. "They are a playoff football team as of right now."

Cincinnati didn't play like one last Sunday, committing 10 penalties in a 35-7 loss at Pittsburgh. Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton , though, knows the Bengals have three home games left and a chance to break out of the pack of five 7-5 teams to secure a wild-card spot.

"We can't let this affect the next four," Dalton said of the Bengals' most-lopsided defeat since falling 37-0 to the New York Jets on Jan. 3, 2010.

However, facing the league's third-ranked passing defense could be a major test for Dalton, who was 11 for 24 with 135 yards last Sunday before sitting during the fourth quarter with the game out of reach.

If Dalton connects with wide receiver A.J. Green for a TD, they will tie St. Louis' Tony Banks and Eddie Kennison (1996) for the third-most combined TDs for a rookie quarterback and rookie wide receiver in league history with seven.

The Bengals have lost two in a row to the Texans after winning the first three meetings. The last time these teams played, Houston won 28-17 on Oct. 18, 2009, for its first victory in Cincinnati in three tries.

Texans beat Bengals 20-19 for first playoff berth

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Eighty yards to cover, little more than 2 minutes left, no timeouts to help. Rookie quarterback T.J. Yates faced his biggest challenge as he lined up for the snap.

With savvy and a scramble, he pulled it off.

Yates led the biggest drive in Texans history on Sunday, one that put them in the end zone and the playoffs. He threw a 6-yard touchdown pass with 2 seconds left for a 20-19 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that sent the expansion team into the playoffs for the first time.

"It's pretty crazy," Yates said. "A lot of people in this organization have waited a long time for this. This is a special day for this team and this organization."

In the span of a few wild minutes, everything broke their way.

With their seventh straight win, the Texans (10-3) moved to the threshold of the playoffs. They hugged on the field then headed to the locker room, where they huddled around a television set and watched the final minutes of Tennessee's game play out.

They needed a Titans loss to clinch the AFC South.

When time ran out on the Titans, preserving New Orleans' 22-17 victory, the Texans screamed, hugged, and donned black championship caps and white T-shirts. Injured receiver Andre Johnson , who didn't play because of a strained hamstring, got a game ball for his part in turning the team into a winner.

"Words really can't describe it," Johnson said. "It's something I've been waiting for for a long time."

Since their inaugural season in 2002, the Texans have been little more than a tease. They'd come close to reaching the playoffs, only to fade and fumble in the big games. They couldn't quite get that breakthrough win.

An unlikely rookie took them the last step.

Yates, a fifth-round draft pick, got his chance when Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart suffered season-ending injuries in consecutive weeks. Making only his second start, Yates led the Texans on their biggest comeback of the season.

With everything on the line for both teams, the Bengals (7-6) couldn't stop him.

"A rookie quarterback beat us today," safety Chris Crocker said. "He did it with both his arm and his feet. I don't even know what to say. Wow."

Wow, indeed.

Yates scrambled 17 yards on third-and-15 to keep the drive going. A pass interference penalty on Adam "Pacman" Jones put the ball at the 6-yard line with 12 seconds left. After an incompletion, Walter lined up wide right, cut to the middle of the field and was uncovered at the goal line.

Offensive tackle Duane Brown ran to Yates and repeatedly slapped his helmet in celebration.

The kid had come through when it mattered most.

"Hey, we're champs!" receiver Jacoby Jones said. "All my years I've been playing, I've never been on a team that got over the hump."

Only 41,202 fans - the second-smallest crowd in Paul Brown Stadium history - showed up to watch the Bengals turn themselves into a long shot for the playoffs. They'd lost three of their last four, including a 35-7 drubbing in Pittsburgh last week that essentially eliminated them from the AFC North race.

Now, they're going to need help getting the final wild card berth.

"As far as the team goes, they are very disappointed and I'm going to have to pump some air in them," coach Marvin Lewis said. "Before this game, we controlled our own destiny, and now I can't tell you what is going to happen."

The Texans have kept winning while losing quarterbacks. They took the final step into the playoffs without Johnson, who was inactive Sunday because of a strained left hamstring.

Yates and a solid defense pulled them through. Yates went 26 of 44 for 300 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and five sacks.

Houston's defense was the stingiest in the AFC, and came through after the Texans fell behind 16-3 at halftime. Andy Dalton was sacked and fumbled, setting up Yates' 6-yard touchdown pass that got the Texans some momentum early in the third quarter.

"It did not look like we had any chance of getting out of here with a win," coach Gary Kubiak said. "But we have a young quarterback who believes in what he's doing."

Notes: The Bengals managed 81 yards in the second half. Cedric Benson carried eight times and lost a yard overall in the half. ... Houston had one sack, leaving it one shy of the club record of 37 in 2005. ... Cincinnati's Mike Nugent kicked field goals of 22, 47, 49 and 28 yards. ... RG Bobbie Williams hurt his right ankle in the second quarter and didn't return. ... The crowd was smaller than one of the University of Cincinnati's two games at Paul Brown Stadium this season. The Bearcats drew 48,152 fans for a game against West Virginia on Nov. 12. Their game against Louisville on Oct. 15 drew 40,971.

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