Houston Texans Suffer Sobering Loss to San Diego Chargers

On a late fall's brisk, blue-sky day at Reliant Stadium the Houston Texans had to be wondering what had become of their not-too-distant and once promising 2 - 0 start to a season that through the first six weeks of the 2010 campaign found them leading outright, or sharing the lead, atop the AFC-South, the only division in the NFL that still had no team with a losing record.

Now 4 - 3 and in third place looking up at the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts, they were hosting the equally befuddled 3 - 5 San Diego Chargers who were also in third place trailing the resurgent Oakland Raiders and surprising Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC-West. But these Chargers were not your typical sub-.500 team. They led the league in both offense and defense, and their quarterback Phillip Rivers was on pace to set an NFL record for single season passing yardage.

In an effort to keep the San Diego high-flying offense off the field, the Texans fed a steady diet of the ball to the NFL's second leading rusher, tops in the AFC, Arian Foster. He totalled 127 yards and two rushing touchdowns on twenty-seven attempts. Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, targeted just seven times the entire afternoon, caught only four balls for forty-one yards.

Vacancies due to injuries to the Chargers' tight end Antonio Gates and wide receiver Legedu Naanee were aptly filled by Randy McMichael and Seyi Ajirotutu who caught two touchdowns each. Rivers had a stellar day that included 74% efficiency on seventeen of twenty-three attempts, four touchdowns and only one interception, and 295 total yards for a quarterback passing rating of 137.2!

In the end, the Houston Texans had to too often settle for field goals instead of touchdowns in an otherwise exciting game that featured 4 lead changes, the last one courtesy of the San Diego Chargers who prevailed over the Houston Texans 29 - 23.