HOUSTON — Cincinnati’s A.J. Green wanted to play on Saturday night against the Houston Texans.

When the team decided otherwise, the star receiver decided to fly home for Christmas Eve rather than watch the game from the sidelines.

Randy Bullock missed a 43-yard field goal attempt as time expired and the Texans held on for the 12-10 win.

Green had missed the last four games with a hamstring injury but said earlier this week that he planned to play against Houston.

“He just had further testing during the week, and I conferred with the doctors and so forth, and they just thought the best thing for A.J. to have a full recovery was not to risk him this week,” coach Marvin Lewis said.

Lewis was asked why the team didn’t make the decision before allowing Green to fly to Houston with the team.

“We had a lot of discussions and so forth, and A.J. hoped to play,” Lewis said. “We ended up flying here and made the decision, and he asked for the opportunity to go home.”

Green has 964 yards receiving this season despite missing five games. Quarterback Andy Dalton was disappointed that he didn’t get to have his best receiver on Saturday night.

“Would I love to have him out there? Absolutely. But the decision was made,” Dalton said.

Dalton appreciated that Green wanted to play with the Bengals already eliminated from playoff contention and raved about his character.