TJ Yates took over after Brian Hoyer sustained a concussion on Monday night and rallied the Houston Texans to a 10-6 victory over Cincinnati, the Bengals’ first loss. But Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton was left unimpressed by comments made by JJ Watt following the game.

The Bengals (8-1) were trying to give the NFL its first trio of 9-0 teams, joining New England and Carolina. A backup quarterback with a history of beating them did it again.

It was appropriate that the first loss came against the Texans (4-5), who made Dalton look very bad during first-round playoff victories over the Bengals during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Yates was behind that first one.

Yates, who returned to the Texans on 28 October, took over in the third quarter and threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins.

Dalton had another tough time against a Texans defense. Cincinnati’s final chance slipped away when AJ Green fumbled after a catch with 40 seconds left.

Watt referred to Dalton’s struggles in his post-game interview with ESPN. “Our goal was to come out here and make the Red Rifle look like a Red Ryder BB Gun, and I think we did that,” Watt said. “He is a great player, and they are a great team, but our coaches put together a great game plan, we executed the game plan, everybody did their job.

“It wasn’t pretty. I mean, it was 10-6. That is a great football team over there, but we were able to do some great things on defense to help stop them to only two field goals.”

Although Watt mixed in plenty of respect for Dalton, alongside his BB gun comment, the Bengals quarterback criticized the defensive end afterwards.

“I’m disappointed in him because of the integrity of this game,” Dalton said. “I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a really good player. There are a lot of kids and people who look up to him, and for him to make comments like that, he’s just showing that’s acceptable to say that kind of stuff.

“It’s disappointing for one of the best players in this league to come out and say something like that, so that’s all I’m going to say about that. He’s a good player, but for him to be one of the best in this league and to show that integrity, it shows what he’s about, and that’s disappointing.”