Momentarily tucking the football into the belly of veteran running back Lamar Miller, Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson adeptly froze defenders in their tracks with a crisp play-action fake.

Three times out of his career-high tying five touchdown passes Thursday night during a 42-23 blowout win over the the Miami Dolphins, Watson threw for a score off of a successful play-action fake.

Watson connected with All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for a 49-yard touchdown pass, a red-zone score to big rookie tight end Jordan Thomas and a 73-yard bomb to wide receiver Will Fuller.

It wasn’t a coincidence that the Texans’ play-action game is suddenly a threat.

That's in large part due to the Texans’ running game emerging as a serious adversary to opposing defenses.

The Texans rushed for 188 yards on 35 carries as Miller gained a season-high 133 yards and a touchdown as he hit the century mark for the second week in a row and his first time doing so since he was playing for the Dolphins in 2015.

Texans coach Bill O’Brien attributed the improved play-action game as a direct correlation to the running game becoming more productive in recent weeks.

“I think it’s more about being able to run the ball,” O’Brien said. “I think no matter how well you fake, if you’re not running the ball, you’re not gaining yards in the running game, the fakes aren’t worth anything.

"But when you’re running the ball and you show that ball to the defense and then pull it out, sometimes that can really help when you’re getting five, six yards a carry.”

Two of the play-action touchdowns were after halftime as Miller had already established the run in the first half with Miller piling up 58 yards and a touchdown.

Before each of the play-action throws for scores, the Texans set up the pass with a running play.

“They’ve got to respect it,” Watson said. “They’ve got to get seven men in the box, sometimes eight men in the box, and then that kind of opens up the passing game. So the safeties are very aggressive then we can get behind those guys using our speed and our talent.

"Lamar is doing a great job. He’s just now getting started, getting back rolling. He’s going to continue to progress each and every year.”

Miller had a chest injury earlier this season and was active, but didn’t play against the Buffalo Bills as backup Alfred Blue started in his place.

When Miller is in the lineup and feeling good, the Texans’ offense is clicking at a different level.

Miller has rushed for 233 of his season total of 504 yards and both of his touchdown runs on 40 carries over the past two games.

“Lamar, himself, I think he’s healthy,” O’Brien said. “He feels good, and I think the offensive line and tight ends did a nice job. They moved the line of scrimmage, they got to the second level, Lamar made really good cuts. Lamar did a great job securing the ball, ran the ball downhill. It was a combination. ..

“The big thing was the offensive line and the running game. If you can do that, then that opens up so many things for you. When you can’t do that, then they feel like they can play the run with a certain amount of guys and a certain reaction. Then, your passing game on first and second down is going to struggle.”

Midway through the regular season, Miller is averaging 4.5 yards per carry.

He averaged 7.4 yards per run against the Dolphins, his former and hometown team, and 4.5 yards per run against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"It felt good," Miller said. "I was speaking to the guys before the game and I just had a different type of juice. The offensive line did a great job and I'm just thankful."

The Texans’ oft-criticized line has allowed just one sack combined and six quarterback hits over the past two games. They surrendered 25 sacks and 66 quarterback hits during the first six games.

The Texans look like a transformed offense the past two weeks.

“It starts with the run game,” Watson said. “The offensive line been doing a great job last couple of weeks of running the ball. The running backs have been running hard, Blue and Lamar. And then the receivers doing a great job of whenever we did run the ball, blocking.

“And whenever we did the play action, they were getting downfield so you’ve got to respect the run game. We had that pretty solid the past couple weeks and especially they stepped up and once they stepped up, you’ve got speed down the field.”