Watson threw a backwards pass to DeAndre Hopkins near the left sideline, and Hopkins tried to hit Carlos Hyde all the way back to the right, but Ross Cockrell was ready for it. He broke away from his man, tight end Darren Fells, picked off Hopkins' pass and returned to the 46-yard line. Five plays later, the Christian McCaffrey ran the ball into the endzone from three yards out, so instead of taking a lead into the locker room, the Texans found themselves behind.
"What I saw during the play was a pass to DeAndre Hopkins," Cockrell recalled. "My receiver (Fells) didn't do what he normally does on a screen, which is block, he ran a route, so I just kinda hung back."
Cockrell said he and his defense were ready for the possibility that a Texan other than Watson could throw a pass at some point.
"We knew that (Hopkins) threw a pass (in the past), and we knew (Kenny Stills) has thrown passes before, so we knew the receivers that could throw the ball."
The Panthers are no stranger to that type of play. Last season, the New York Giants ran something similar when Odell Beckham Jr. found Saquon Barkley for a 57-yard touchdown pass, and while Houston hadn't run a variation of through the first three games of 2019, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said they had seen it before from the Texans, and credited Cockrell for the way he reacted.
"I believe we talked about it and showed it to the defensive players last week and so they had a chance to look at something like that," he said. "Ross was very disciplined, stayed home, and was able to make the interception. Again, Ross is just one of those guys, as the old saying goes, definitely Johnny on the spot. He gets it, he understands. He's a pro. Actually, that's his nickname. We call him Pro just because he's that type of guy.”