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Week 2 Game Recap: Houston Texans 34, Carolina Panthers 21
What you need to know
| Houston Texans |
Matt Schaub had a good game going 20 of 28 for 227 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to seven completions to Andre Johnson, Schaub hit his tight end and fullback five times each. He hit Johnson for Houston's first two scores of the game.
Ahman Green carried the ball 15 times for 71 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown in the third quarter opened up a ten point lead for Houston. Ron Dayne added 44 yards on 18 carries. Dayne also added a catch for ten yards. He came in late in the third quarter and had the rest of the carries for Houston. Vonta Leach was used mainly as a receiver out of the backfield. He only carried once but caught five passes for 26 yards.
Andre Johnson was targeted 12 times pulling in seven catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Schaub and Johnson had good chemistry going in this game until Johnson got hurt in the fourth quarter. He hurt his knee and did not return to the game. Kevin Walter was the only other wide receiver to catch a pass. He made one catch for seven yards. His big contribution in the game was recovering a fumble in the end zone on a kickoff. It gave Houston back to back scores and basically put the game out of reach.
The Houston defense settled down after giving up 14 early points. They switched up the coverage on Steve Smith and shut him down until very late in the game. Houston was flying to the ball and dominated the game. They held the Carolina running backs to just 53 yards rushing.
| Carolina Panthers |
Jake Delhomme started the game with back to back touchdown drives. He hit Steve Smith for both touchdowns. He connected with Smith for another touchdown late in the game with the score out of reach. With Carolina behind for the entire second half, Delhomme was forced to throw and finished the game with 41 pass attempts. He completed 27 passes for 307 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
The Panthers running backs were held in check all day. Foster and Williams combined for 17 carries and just 53 yards. They picked up just one first down on the ground. On the receiving end, Foster caught four balls for 20 yards. DeAngelo Williams added five catches for 20 yards.
Outside of Delhomme, Steve Smith was the only bright spot for the Panthers. He caught eight passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns. His final touchdown was an amazing catch and run by Smith. He caught a short pass, somehow broke out of a pack of four Houston defenders and raced the rest of the way for a 74 yard touchdown. Drew Carter and Keary Colbert each added three catches.
The Carolina defense was able to hold down the Houston offense on their first two drives. They were able to force a Houston fumble, which led to the second Carolina score. After that point, the Carolina defense was unable to stop the Texans. Houston scored on its next four drives. At one point, the Panthers gave up 34 unanswered points.
What you ought to know
| QB Matt Schaub, Pass: 20 - 28 - 227 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 3 - 0 |
Schaub managed the offense very well in this game. He completed 71 percent of his passes, picking up 227 yards. He threw for two touchdowns, both of which were to Andre Johnson. His did not have any turnovers in the game but that was thanks to instant replay. He threw a bad pass that appeared to be intercepted at the Carolina five yard line. The play was reviewed and overturned. The drive continued and four plays later, Schaub hit Johnson for their second touchdown of the game.
| RB Ron Dayne, Rush: 18 - 44 - 0, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (1 targets) |
Dayne carried the ball 18 times for 44 yards. He also had one catch for ten yards. Sixteen of his 18 carries came in the second half. Dayne only averaged 2.4 yards per carry but he ran the ball exclusively while Houston was looking to control the clock.
| RB Ahman Green, Rush: 15 - 71 - 1 |
Green had 71 yards on 15 carries and scored once. Green was used in the first half but did not have a carry after the halfway point of the third quarter. Green ran untouched on a 13 yard touchdown run, his longest of the day. Green had two of the three carries inside the Carolina red zone.
After the game Coach Kubiak had this to say about Green's loss of touches as the game wore on: "He's been cramping a little bit, and Ronnie is a big pounder at the end of the game. We were playing the game smart at the end, trying to do nothing to beat ourselves. So we were just smart right there and went running."
| RB Vonta Leach, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0, Rec: 5 - 26 - 0 (5 targets) |
Leach only had one carry for one yard. He was involved in the passing game though. Schaub hit Leach out of the backfield all five times he looked his way. Leach caught five passes for 26 yards. With the ball at the Carolina seven yard line, Schaub hit Leach out of the backfield but he was only able to get to the two yard line.
| WR Andre Johnson, Rec: 7 - 120 - 2 (12 targets) |
Johnson caught seven passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns. He did leave the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter. Prior to the injury, Schaub and Johnson were clicking on all cylinders. Houston's first scoring drive consisted of three plays, two of them going to Johnson. One was a pass for 33 yards and the other was a 31 yard touchdown pass. Early in the game, Johnson had a 13 yard catch negated due to a penalty on Houston.
| WR Kevin Walter, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (1 targets) |
Walter had one catch for seven yards. He was the only Houston wide receiver to have a catch besides Andre Johnson. His biggest play of the game came on a Carolina kickoff return. There was a fumble on the play and after a scramble for the ball Walter dove into the end zone to secure it for the touchdown.
| WR Jacoby Jones (1 targets) |
Schaub looked his way once but the pass was incomplete.
| TE Owen Daniels, Rec: 5 - 58 - 0 (7 targets) |
Daniels had five catches for 58 yards. Four of his five catches went for first downs. His other catch would have been a first down but he fumbled on the play. His knee was close enough to the ground that Houston challenged the play. The play was reviewed and upheld. Owens came back a couple of drives later and made a nice catch on a fourth and four play. His catch continued the drive that ended in Houston's second touchdown.
| TE Jeb Putzier, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (2 targets) |
Putzier had two targets with one catch for six yards. His catch came on third down and extended Houston's 16 play touchdown drive.
| PK Kris Brown 2 - 2 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 10 points |
Brown hit field goals from 25 and 33 yards. He also connected on all four of his extra point attempts.
| HOU Rush Defense |
The Houston rushing defense dominated the Carolina running backs in this game. The defense held the Carolina running game to 66 yards, 13 of those yards coming from Delhomme scrambling. They held Carolina to just one first down via the run. The Houston defensive linemen were constantly getting pressure to disrupt the running game of Carolina.
| HOU Pass Defense |
The Houston pass defense gave up two touchdowns early on in the game. They made an adjustment by moving Dunta Robinson to cover Steve Smith. Robinson did a great job of covering Smith and that led to Houston shutting down Carolina's offense. Robinson picked off Delhomme on a pass intended for Smith. The pass defense had three sacks and forced two fumbles. Late in the game, the Houston defense made a horrible play on Steve Smith's 74 yard touchdown. Smith caught the ball on a short pass and somehow broke free from four Houston defenders.
| QB Jake Delhomme, Pass: 27 - 41 - 307 - 3 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - 13 - 0 |
Delhomme started off the game looking great. He connected twice with Steve Smith for touchdowns on Carolina's first two drives. With Houston taking over the game after that it forced Delhomme to throw 41 times. He completed 27 passes for 307 yards with three touchdowns. He also threw one interception. 164 of Delhomme's yards came when the game was out of reach.
| RB DeAngelo Williams, Rush: 8 - 31 - 0, Rec: 5 - 20 - 0 (6 targets) |
Williams had eight carries for 31 yards. Williams pulled in five passes for 20 yards. Williams fumbled on a pass play to start the fourth quarter. His fumble led to a Houston field goal.
| RB DeShaun Foster, Rush: 9 - 22 - 0, Rec: 4 - 20 - 0 (4 targets) |
Foster carried the ball nine times for 22 yards. He also caught all four passes thrown to him for 20 yards.
| RB Brad Hoover |
Hoover didn't have any carries or passes thrown to him.
| WR Steve Smith, Rec: 8 - 153 - 3 (9 targets) |
Smith was targeted nine times in this game. He caught eight passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns. All three of his touchdowns were classic Steve Smith plays. His first touchdown was on a pass that was underthrown in the end zone. Smith went up, tipped it over the defender's head and easily came down with the deflection. His second touchdown was on an out pass and he broke a tackle at the five yard line to score. His final touchdown was on a short pass with Smith never giving up and breaking away from four Houston tacklers. Smith stayed on his feet and then raced the rest of the way to the end zone.
| WR Drew Carter, Rec: 3 - 50 - 0 (6 targets) |
Carter was targeted six times and caught three passes for 50 yards. Carter's first look came late in the second quarter. He did not see any red zone looks.
| WR Keary Colbert, Rec: 3 - 25 - 0 (8 targets) |
Colbert caught three passes for 25 yards. Delhomme tried to hit Colbert deep a couple of times but both passes fell incomplete.
| WR Dwayne Jarrett |
Jarrett was declared inactive prior to the game.
| TE Jeff King, Rec: 4 - 39 - 0 (5 targets) |
King caught four passes for 39 yards. Three of his four catches resulted in first downs. Four of King's five targets came on the final drive for Carolina with the Panthers down by 14 points.
| PK John Kasay 0 - 0 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 3 points |
Kasay made three extra points. He did not have any field goals attempts.
| CAR Rush Defense |
The Carolina rush defense allowed 119 rushing yards and one touchdown. The touchdown was by Ahman Green, who went untouched into the end zone from 13 yards out. After the Panthers went up by 14 points, they couldn't hold the lead and allowed Houston to put back to back touchdown drives together. The Texans' second scoring drive was 16 plays for 7:39 minutes. That drive seemed to deflate the Carolina defense.
| CAR Pass Defense |
The Carolina pass defense struggled to stop Matt Schaub and the Texans' passing game. The Texans attacked the middle of the defense and were able to make big plays. The Carolina defense couldn't seem to stop Andre Johnson. Johnson had three catches over 20 yards. The pass defense almost had an interception at the Carolina five yard line. The instant replay showed it was no catch. Carolina gave up the tying score four plays later.
