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Schaub, Texans roll hapless Bengals

Oct 27, 2008 - 12:36 AM By Jeremy Rakes PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Cincinnati Bengals made Matt Schaub look like a world beater.

Schaub passed for 280 yards and tied a career high with three touchdown passes Sunday, leading the Houston Texans to a 35-6 victory over the hapless Bengals.

The fifth-year player picked apart the Bengals' secondary, completing 24-of-28 passes and helping the Texans (3-4) win a franchise-record third straight game following an 0-4 start.

"We played a complete game," Houston head coach Gary Kubiak said. "We knew they had a lot of firepower, and they were able to move the ball in the first half.

"I thought in the third quarter we took control of the game. We had big plays on offense, made big stops on defense and won the turnover battle for the first time this year. We were able to close the game. That's a big step in the right direction."

The Bengals dropped to 0-8, and don't appear close to winning a game. They were held to a pair of field goals by Shayne Graham in the first half.

An early tone was set when Jacoby Jones returned a punt 73 yards for a touchdown to give the Texans a 7-0 lead with 12:42 remaining in the first quarter.

The Bengals only trailed 14-6 at the half, but Houston scored on its first three possessions of the second half to ice the game.

"Yeah, 0-8 is embarrassing, just in general," Bengals quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. "Again, this game we went into halftime feeling like offensively we did some good things, but our defense was holding up pretty good."

It marked the second time in as many weeks the Bengals collapsed in the second half. In last week's 38-10 loss to Pittsburgh, they only trailed at the intermission, 10-7.

"We came out after halftime, just like in the Steelers game, feeling like we had a good shot, and it all kind of fell apart in the second half again," Fitzpatrick added.

Schaub, who set a franchise record with a 85.0 completion percentage, threw a pair of TD passes to Kevin Walter in the third quarter and rookie Steve Slaton added a 20-yard TD run with 10 minutes remaining to make it 35-6.

"You look at the first half, and it was kind of crazy because we didn't have the ball all that much," said Schaub, whose passer rating of 144.1 also set a team record.

Schaub found Walter for a 7-yard touchdown with 9:19 left in the third to cap a 10-play, 84-yard drive. Schaub hit Andre Johnson four times on the drives for catches of 18, 17, 20 and 10 yards.

"When Matt struggles, and Sage (Rosenfels) came out and played well, there were a lot of people saying Sage should be the starter," Johnson said. "(Schaub) has played well, and now, there is nobody saying that. We have played really well lately."

Schaub found Walter again for a 39-yard touchdown pass with 6:30 left in the third. On the play, Walter made a diving catch around the Cincinnati 20, but Jonathan Joseph didn't touch him and Walter leapt up and ran the remaining 19 yards for the score.

Johnson caught 11 passes for 143 yards while Walter added five receptions for 70 yards for Houston. Slaton rushed for 55 yards on 15 carries.

The Texans posted their first win over the Bengals, and the 29-point margin of victory was the largest in franchise history.

Fitzpatrick completed 20-of-32 passes for 155 yards with two interceptions and a fumble.

"You have to get them down," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "We have to stop third downs."

But Lewis knows there are no easy solutions for the Bengals' woes.

"It's not like you've got someone who is going to ride in and save you because we are playing with the best guys we got," he said. "We are going to have to find a way to get these players better and put them in the right holes and the right gaps on offense, defense and special teams and go."