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Texans roll over Panthers to start 2-0

Sep 16, 2007 - 10:30 PM CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Matt Schaub era in Houston is off to quite a start.

Behind their new quarterback, the Texans overcame a standout performance by Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith on Sunday en route to a 34-21 victory.

"It was a tremendous team victory," said Texans coach Gary Kubiak, whose team next faces the Indianapolis Colts. "We have a group of guys that believe in themselves. They never lose confidence.

"We did not make changes, we believed in our game plan. We're off to a good start, now we have to play the world champions."

The 34 points were the most points in franchise history for the Texans. Houston also accomplished something else it never did in five years with David Carr as their starting quarterback as it improved to 2-0 for the first time in the franchise's brief history.

But Smith made them earn it after an eight-catch performance for 153 yards and all three Carolina touchdowns. The wide receiver caught a pair of touchdowns from Jake Delhomme in the first quarter to put the Panthers ahead 14-0.

"We play this game for a reason," Smith said. "You try to play all-out every play. I will continue to do that until I am done playing."

It was all Houston from there. Schaub hooked up with wide receiver Andre Johnson for a pair of scoring plays to knot the score, and Kris Brown hit a 25-yard field goal with 2:19 left in the half to give the Texans the lead.

"It was tough on us early," said Schaub, who finished 20-for-28 for 227 yards and a pair of TD passes. "We had some penalties and a turnover. Our defense put us in excellent position and stepped up after the first quarter.

"All throughout, our offense is clicking. It's a team game and there is no division between offense and defense. It was just executing what was in our plan."

Carolina (1-1) was coming off last week's 27-13 win at St. Louis.

"We didn't play well enough to win," said Panthers head coach John Fox, whose career record with the Panthers fell to 50-38. "We jumped out 14-0, but they executed better than we did for 60 minutes. There were too many drops and too many turnovers. Those are things that make it hard to win in the NFL."

Andre Johnson became the franchise leader in touchdown receptions after catching seven passes for 120 yards and two scores.

"The coaches put in a good game plan," said Johnson, who recorded his 15th career 100-yard game. "They knew who was going to be open.

"Going down 14 points early, in years past the game was over. Now when we go down 14 points, we're on the sidelines ready to go."

Houston increased its lead to 31-14 in the third quarter on a 13-yard run by Ahman Green, and fumble recovery by Kevin Walter in the end zone. Green finished with 71 yards on 15 carries.

Smith made things interesting in the fourth quarter on a 74-yard TD reception from Delhomme to cut the final margin to 34-21.

"We didn't do enough offensively," Delhomme said. "We didn't make enough plays on offense. It's very frustrating. To start fast and then all of a sudden it's 31 unanswered points. It's disappointing."