My NFL Forums | NFL Forums & Blogs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Chris Johnson scored three long touchdowns. The Houston Texans touched him briefly — only once — in what looked like a peewee game.

"How we won the game is amazing," Houston coach Gary Kubiak said. "That doesn't happen in this league."

It helped that Matt Schaub threw a career-best four touchdowns and Kris Brown kicked a 23-yard field goal in the final minutes to help Houston escape with a 34-31 win Sunday.

Credit also an offensive line that didn't allow a sack despite losing left guard Chester Pitts to a sprained knee in the second quarter.

"Matt played hard and all of our guys played hard all day long, and they were rewarded at the end," Kubiak said.

A week ago, the Texans found themselves answering questions about their toughness after being embarrassed 24-7 at home by the New York Jets. Now they're celebrating a rare September win, their first since Sept. 16, 2007, and just their second win in Nashville over the franchise they replaced in Houston.

"It was a big win for us," said Schaub, whose 127.8 passer rating was the second best of his career. "We are on the road in a tough environment against a very good football team. Our guys fought for 60 minutes."

Houston is 1-1 and 1-0 in the AFC South after starting 0-4 in 2008. The Titans? Well, the defending AFC South champs are 0-2 a year after winning their first 10 games.

"It's a significantly different start obviously, but we're about trying to find a way to win the ballgame now," Fisher said.

The Titans outgained Houston 449-420, thanks in large part to Johnson's touchdowns of 57, 69 and 91 yards.

But the quick scoring didn't help rest their defense, and the Texans had the ball for 34 minutes.

Tennessee didn't force a turnover, while the Texans intercepted Kerry Collins once and turned that into a TD. Collins lost the ball all by himself off his leg when he had a chance to answer Brown's second field goal.

Jeff Zgonina recovered, and Houston ran out the final 92 seconds.

The Titans bypassed a chance at a long field goal that could have given them a fourth-quarter lead, letting Collins pass on fourth-and-6. Justin Gage caught the ball but was out of bounds. Fisher cited wind and field position for his decision, but punter Craig Hentrich, who holds on field goal attempts, was sidelined by a calf injury.

Johnson ran 16 times for 197 yards with two TDs and caught nine passes for 87 more and another TD for 284 yards from scrimmage.

"It's good to have great days like that," Johnson said. "But at the end of the day when you take that L, it puts a damper on your whole day."

Schaub was a big reason why Johnson's day was trumped. The Titans shut down Steve Slaton, holding him to 34 yards on 17 carries. So Schaub threw away, firing TD passes of 19 and 72 yards to Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson, a 29-yarder to Jacoby Jones and a 1-yarder to Owen Daniels for the fourth tie of the game, this one at 31.

He finished 25 of 39 for 357 yards with Johnson his top target, catching 10 passes for 149 yards.

"Guys were getting open. Making plays is what it's about," Schaub said. "That was a very good defense we faced."

No questions, for now, on the Texans' toughness after a physical game with plenty of pushing and shoving that turned into a literal slugfest on the Houston bench in the fourth quarter. Titans defensive tackle Jason Jones was ejected for throwing a punch, which he later denied.

Texans owner Bob McNair called the win the biggest in the franchise's short history, and Andre Johnson agreed.

"After what happened last week and having so many expectations, we didn't start off the way we wanted to. But what a way to come back and redeem yourself in an atmosphere like this," Johnson said.

Notes: Brown became the ninth active player with 1,000 career points scored with his second extra point. He finished with 10 points and now has 1,008 in his career. Texans assistant coach Bruce Matthews, who played his Hall of Fame career with the Oilers and Titans, was given a game ball. ... Chris Johnson's 284 yards combined from scrimmage are second in franchise history to the 330 Billy Cannon had Dec. 10, 1961, against the New York Titans, now the Jets.

By TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer
© 2009 The Associated Press

__________________