• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Texans eye third straight win against hapless Bengals

Oct 21, 2008 - 9:36 PM CINCINNATI (0-7) AT HOUSTON (2-4), 4:05 pm EDT

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Houston Texans slowly are starting to turn their season around. The Cincinnati Bengals wish they could say the same.

The Texans aim for their third consecutive victory when they host the winless Bengals on Sunday.

It's an odd scheduling quirk for Houston, which, because of damage caused by Hurricane Ike, was forced to play its first three games on the road but now is in the midst of four straight home contests, including back-to-back outings against winless squads.

Matt Schaub had his finest outing of the season last weekend, completing 26-of-31 attempts for 267 yards and two touchdown passes to tight end Owen Daniels in a 28-21 victory over the Detroit Lions.

Schaub's favorite target was Andre Johnson, who made 11 catches for 141 yards in recording his third consecutive 100-yard receiving game.

"He's going to make some big plays for us," Schaub said. "As a quarterback, if you get one-on-one coverage with him, he's going to secure the ball and make a big play for us."

Houston running back Steve Slaton continued his stellar rookie season with 80 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Veteran Ahman Green added 62 yards and a touchdown.

However, the Texans did allow the Lions to score 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a 96-yard TD pass, to close within the final margin.

"We just made mistakes in the second half," Johnson said. "All in all, we got the win and that's all that matters."

The Bengals would like to know that feeling. Cincinnati dropped to 0-7 following last weekend's 38-10 mauling at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A feeble offense which has been limited to 14 points or fewer five times will again be led by Ryan Fitzpatrick, who will start his fourth game Sunday in place of an ailing Carson Palmer (elbow).

Fitzpatrick is averaging just 4.6 yards per pass attempt in his three starts and has not been helped by a non-existent running game.

Cedric Benson replaced starter Chris Perry last weekend and rushed for 52 yards on 14 carries. Perry is averaging 2.6 yards per carry, the lowest in the league for a starter.