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Quarterback Matt Schaub went to the locker room briefly in the fourth quarter while the Texans' defense was on the field. CBS commentators speculated that Schaub was nursing an injury to his ribs, but he did not miss any plays and went 9-of-13 passing for 110 yards in the fourth quarter.
"He's banged up a little but he sucked it up and finished the game," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "He got hit in the gut."
When he was asked about the nature of his injury after the game, Schaub said "there is none."
"I was just going in to check on something, but I'm fine," he said.
Jackson takes the blameRookie cornerback Kareem Jackson got his second interception of the season, but he also was beaten by Chargers rookie wide receiver Seyi Ajirotutu on two long touchdowns.
Ajirotutu scored on a 55-yard pass in the first quarter and a 28-yard pass in the fourth quarter.
"The first play was a double move," Jackson said. "I thought I was high enough on the guy where I thought I could just speed-turn. Once I went to speed-turn, he double-moved and he was off. I wasn't close enough to him where I could grab him. On the last one, it was just bad technique at the line of scrimmage. I missed my jam, and every time you miss a jam in this league, it'll go for six."
The Texans' first-round draft pick out of Alabama, Jackson said that his confidence has not been shaken by a rocky start to the season. He shouldered the blame for the Sunday's loss after an admittedly tough day at the office.
"In my opinion, I think it was the big plays that determined the game, of which I gave up three alone – two for a touchdown," he said. "Any time that happens, you don't give your team a chance to win. That's on me. I'll just have to come back out this week and just work hard and just try to get better."
Red zone woesThe Texans came into the game with the best offensive red zone percentage in the NFL, having converted touchdowns on 64.8 of their drives inside the 20. They were two-of-six in the red zone against the Chargers.
On three of their red zone trips on Sunday, the Texans had to settle for a short field goal by Neil Rackers. Jacoby Jones dropped a deflected pass in the end zone on one of those drives, and Arian Foster had a touchdown catch overturned after review on another. Foster also was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-one at the 17-yard line on the first play of the fourth quarter.
"When we get down in the red zone, we have to score touchdowns," wide receiver Andre Johnson said. "We can't kick field goals. That's pretty much it. We just have to score touchdowns and not kick field goals. When you score touchdowns, it kind of puts the dagger in them."
Dreessen, Casey step upTight ends Joel Dreessen and James Casey combined for nine catches for 114 yards in place of Owen Daniels, who was inactive with a hamstring injury.
Dreessen started and had a team-high five catches for 66 yards. Casey had a career-high four catches for 48 yards, including a career-long 33-yard catch in the second quarter. They were the first receptions of the season for the second-year pro out of Rice.
"It felt really good to get out there and get some opportunities, be a part of the offense," Casey said. "I hadn't been doing that a lot the first seven games, so that felt good, but it would've felt really good if we could've put together a win. We felt we were right there and we just couldn't put it together at the end. In a loss, it's hard to really be happy about anything regardless of how many snaps you had or what plays you made or not."
All for naughtThe Texans gained 391 yards against the Chargers, which was the most yards given up by San Diego this season. The Chargers came into the game ranked first in the league in total defense, giving up an average of 260.0 yards per game.
The Texans ran for 140 yards, also the most that the Chargers have given up this season. San Diego entered the game with the league's second-ranked rushing defense, allowing an average of 83.1 yards per game.
The Texans had the ball for 33:49, their second-highest time of possession this season. That stat, like their big yardage totals, was all for naught.
"We kept them off the field, which was a big goal of ours," Kubiak said. "We did all those things that we wanted to do, but we didn't close things out.
"We had good control of the football game, good control of the clock. We had an eight-minute drive to start the third quarter. A lot of good things were going on, but not finishing things off kept us from feeling a hell of a lot better about it than we're feeling right now."
