Texans Down Raiders

Kris Brown booted three fourth-quarter field goals and Ron Dayne rushed for 95 yards on 18 carries as the Houston Texans scored 16 second-half points and defeated the Oakland Raiders, 23-14, at McAfee Coliseum.

The Texans' defense also sacked Aaron Brooks three times, while the Raiders' defense record five sacks in the contest. Wali Lundy rushed for 33 yards on nine carries and a score.

Brooks was 25-of-42 passing for 238 yards with two interceptions and Justin Fargas rushed for 49 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown for the Raiders (2-10), who have lost five straight games and will travel to Cincinnati to play the Bengals next weekend.

Sebastian Janikowski, who was questionable coming into the contest with a back injury, missed three field goals for Oakland.

"They're never ugly when you win," Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said. "That was one of the greatest defensive and special teams I've ever been a part of in football and you've got to do what you've got to do to win and this football team wasn't going to be denied."

Oakland appeared to have a something going offensively right out of the gate as they got the ball first and moved it down to the Houston 45-yard line on five plays. However, ReShard Lee running around left end for a 13-yard gain was stripped of the ball by C. C. Brown and the ball was picked up by Demarcus Faggins, who darted 58 yards for a touchdown to give the Texans a quick 7-0 advantage.

After both teams traded several series of punts, the Raiders finally got on the board early in the second quarter. Following a 34-yard punt return by Chris Carr that gave the Raiders great field position at the Texans 21, Oakland needed only five plays to get into the end zone. Fargas ran over right guard for three yards and a touchdown to tie the contest at 7-7 early in the second stanza.

The Raiders moved the ball down to the Houston 37 on their next offensive series but Brooks, under heavy pressure, had his throwing arm hit by first overall pick Mario Williams, causing Brooks' pass to flutter into the air before being intercepted by Dexter McCleon.

"Obviously it wasn't a good day for us," Raiders head coach Art Shell said. "You can't make mistakes that we made offensively and the mistakes on our coverage teams and expect to expect to win against anybody."

Following several series of punts, the Raiders put another seven points on the board with 1:08 remaining in the second quarter. Warren Sapp sacked Carr on the Houston 36-yard line, causing the quarterback to fumble. Kirk Morrison picked up the ball and raced 35 yards for a touchdown to give Oakland at 14-7 lead heading into halftime.

Houston quickly tied the contest 16 seconds into the third quarter. Jerome Mathis took the second-half kickoff 87 yards down to the Raiders' three-yard line and one play later Lundy ran up the middle for a TD to knot the game at 14-14.

Oakland tried answering on its next series as Brooks led the offense down to the Texans 19 on a 12-play drive, but Janikowski's field-goal attempt hit the left upright and the contest remained tied.

After Houston went three-and-out, the Raiders went back on the offensive attack, mounting an eight-play drive that moved the ball to the Texans 11, but again Janikowski couldn't convert on a field goal, this time hitting the left upright from 29 yards, his third miss of the game.

The Texans had a chance to capitalize on the kicker's miscues and appeared to have something going offensively. Behind some strong running by Dayne, who carried the ball six times during the drive, Houston moved it down to the Raiders' 23. The drive stalled and kicker Kris Brown, trying to give Houston a three-point advantage, had his 41-yard field-goal attempt sail wide right.

Following another three-and-out by the Raiders, the Texans got a big play from punt returner Dexter Wynn, who caught the ball at the Oakland 21-yard line and brought it back 58 yards to the Houston 21. Three plays later, Brown nailed a 42-yard field goal to put the Raiders ahead 17-14.

On the Raiders next set, Brooks connected with Randal Williams on an eight- yard pass, but McCleon forced the wide receiver to fumble and it was recovered by Ryans and returned to the Oakland 47. The Texans couldn't muster much offense however, going 19 yards on five plays with Brown converting on a 47- yard field goal to stretch the lead to 20-14.

The Raiders' offensive woes continued as Brooks again connected with Williams on an eight-yard pass and as he did in the previous series, fumbled the football and it was fell on by Morlon Greenwood on the Raiders 26-yard line. Four plays later, Brown connected on his third field goal of the contest, this time a 39-yard effort to make it 23-14 with 2:19 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Game Notes

Ryans has led or tied the Texans in tackles in seven of the last 12 games...Mario Williams, this year's first overall pick, had two total tackles for Houston...Greenwood had a fumble recovery and nine total tackles...Thomas Howard led the Raiders' defense with 10 total tackles, while Derrick Burgess had a sack and a half and a forced fumble.

UP NEXT

The Raiders will play the Cincinnati Bengals next, in Cincinnati.