Houston Off To First 2-0 Start

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The loud celebration inside the Houston Texans' locker room could be heard from the hallway outside. Players hollered and laughed, and then someone summarized the moment with a yell.

'We're a different team, baby!'

Indeed.

Instead of folding after falling behind by two touchdowns, the Texans rallied behind Matt Schaub's 227 yards passing and two touchdowns, an effective running game and an opportunistic defense for a 34-21 win against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

The team that was 24-56 in its first five seasons improved to 2-0 for the first time in franchise history.

'Before we would go down by 14 points early, the games were over,' said receiver Andre Johnson, who caught seven passes for 120 yards and two scores before suffering a left knee injury. 'Now we go down by 14 points, everyone comes on the sideline and says, 'Hey we're fine.'

'Before you knew it, we were back up.'

And the Texans did it with the quarterback that took so much abuse in their first five years - David Carr - on the other sideline. Now a backup with the Panthers, Carr, who was sacked 249 times in five years, could only watch as his old team looked like as though it was ready to finally contend for a playoff berth.

Ahman Green added 71 yards rushing and a TD, while the Texans' defense forced three second-half turnovers and rookie tackle Amobi Okoye had two of Houston's three sacks.

The only concern for Houston was Johnson, who said he sprained his knee and would undergo an MRI today. He was hoping he would play next week against Super Bowl champion Indianapolis in an early-season showdown in the AFC South.

'We're doing some things better, and we've still doing a lot of things that we've got to improve on to be a good football team,' second-year coach Gary Kubiak said. 'It's just one of 16, and I'm proud of our football team to come here on the road and win. And we get to play the world champs next week.'

A week after a 27-13 win at St. Louis, the Panthers (1-1) were dumbfounded after what went wrong in their fourth consecutive loss in their home opener.

Steve Smith, who caught eight passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns, had little help. A week after rushing for 186 yards in a win against St. Louis, the Panthers mustered only 76 yards on the ground, and DeAngelo Williams lost a fumble.

Schaub, acquired from Atlanta in the offseason, connected with Johnson on scoring passes of 31 and 9 yards. The first TD catch was the 19th of Johnson's career, a team record.

Houston710143-34Carolina14007-21 First Quarter

Car-S.Smith 7 pass from Delhomme (Kasay kick), 6:38.

Car-S.Smith 12 pass from Delhomme (Kasay kick), 5:04.

Hou-A.Johnson 31 pass from Schaub (K.Brown kick), 3:48.

Second Quarter

Hou-A.Johnson 9 pass from Schaub (K.Brown kick), 8:27.

Hou-FG K.Brown 25, 2:17.

Third Quarter

Hou-Green 13 run (K.Brown kick), 11:28.

Hou-Walter fumble recovery in end zone (K.Brown kick), 11:16.

Fourth Quarter

Hou-FG K.Brown 33, 9:07.

Car-S.Smith 74 pass from Delhomme (Kasay kick), 4:26.

A-73,665.

HouCarFirst downs1917Total Net Yards346344Rushes-yards36-11918-66Passing227278Punt Returns2-322-18Kickoff Returns3-485-101Interceptions Ret.1-100-0Comp-Att-Int20-28-027-41-1Sacked-Yards Lost0-03-29Punts5-39.26-41.0Fumbles-Lost1-13-2Penalties-Yards5-405-35Time of Possession34:4825:12 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Houston, Green 15-71, Dayne 18-44, Schaub 2-3, Leach 1-1. Carolina, Williams 8-31, Foster 9-22, Delhomme 1-13.

PASSING-Houston, Schaub 20-28-0-227. Carolina, Delhomme 27-41-1-307.

RECEIVING-Houston, A.Johnson 7-120, Daniels 5-58, Leach 5-26, Dayne 1-10, Walter 1-7, Putzier 1-6. Carolina, S.Smith 8-153, Williams 5-20, King 4-39, Foster 4-20, Carter 3-50, Colbert 3-25.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-None.