Wide receiver Kevin Walter finished the game with six catches for 97 yards.
Despite a gutsy fourth quarter comeback led by quarterback Sage Rosenfels, the Texans fell to the Titans by a score 38-36.
Fourth quarter heroics: The Texans entered the fourth quarter trailing the Titans 32-7. Quarterback Matt Schaub had gone down midway through the first half with ankle and hip injuries and backup Sage Rosenfels had been struggling to get the ball downfield.
That was until the final 14 minutes of the game, when Rosenfels capped off a 70-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver David Anderson, igniting a furious offensive rally.
"We played so poorly for three quarters and we didn't want to finish the game that way," Rosenfels said. "At the very minimum, we wanted to finish the game scoring some points."
That is exactly what the quarterback did. He led touchdown drives for 70, 98, 75 and 66 yards. His four touchdown passes tied an NFL record for a fourth quarter and Rosenfels' 249 yards in the final period were the second most in NFL history.
"I started feeling confidence as we picked up first downs," Rosenfels said. "You get one first down and another first down, and then you start gaining some confidence. Then, things will really snowball from there."
The quarterback also spread the wealth, giving Anderson, tight end Jeb Putzier, wide receiver Kevin Walter and wideout André Davis touchdowns receptions. Davis' outstanding 53-yard touchdown catch with 57 seconds to play gave the Texans a 36-35 lead.
"It was me on two safeties," Davis said. "I got around him, and the second guy just wasn't able to make the play. Sage put it up there, the offensive line gave him enough time to put it up there, and I made the play."
The 25-point deficit that the Texans overcame to take the lead marked the biggest comeback in team history, and the 29 points they scored in the fourth quarter is a Texans' team-high for points in the final period.
In the end, the record-setting point total and heroic performances would not be enough as the Texans lost 38-36 on a last second field goal.
"After André scored, and we kicked that (extra point), there's no doubt in my mind that we were going to win that game, and it was done," said Walter, who finished with six catches for 97 yards. "But in this league, it's never done until the clock turns zero, so it was definitely frustrating."
Kubiak blames himself: Until the fourth quarter, the Texans' offense simply sputtered, managing only 34 yards before their first touchdown drive.
The offensive line allowed Schaub to suffer two sacks. Rosenfels threw three interceptions. The running game couldn't gain ground.
However, head coach Gary Kubiak said all of the offense's problems started with him.
"I told my team that I did a poor job at having the offense ready to play," Kubiak said. "That's my job, and I did a horrible job at that. By the time we adjusted it was too little too late."
The head coach said he was unprepared for the Titans' blitz package.
"They brought some blitzes that we hadn't seen them bring," Kubiak said. "But in the National Football League to bring four strong and four weak is something that you see, so you just go adjust. We had to go out of the box."
The coach also was upset with himself for aggressively playing Jacoby Jones as a returner and a wide receiver. Jones had been sidelined with a separated shoulder and saw limited action the week before in Jacksonville.
"I made the decision that he was ready to play, and it's obvious that he's not ready to play with his shoulder," Kubiak said. "That's a poor decision on my part, as a coach, he should not have been out there. Simple as that."
DeMeco to the house: In the first quarter, linebacker DeMeco Ryans forced a fumble on a sack, recovered the fumble and returned it for a 26-yard touchdown. It was Ryans' second-career forced fumble and first career touchdown.
"It was exciting to come through on the blitz, knock the ball out," Ryans said. "It was an exciting play for me, my first NFL touchdown."
As thrilling as his touchdown was, Ryans was more impressed with the way his team stepped up in the fourth quarter.
"The guys in this room fought hard, and never looked the other way," Ryan said. "Everybody in this locker room believed we could do it, and that's what we can take away from this. We were down and out, fans leaving. It shows that we stick together. We're all we have on the field out there, so we stick together. Anything is possible for us."
Schaub banged up: Schaub left the game after suffering ankle and hip injuries. The starting quarterback was steamrolled twice by the titanic Titans tackles and never fully recovered after the second sack.
"Matt is just beat up, to be honest with you," Kubiak said. "He's having an MRI. We're concerned about his hip. The x-rays of his leg were negative. We're concerned about his hip right now, so we'll do the MRI this afternoon. But just in general, Matt's beat up.
"He's taken a lot of shots over the course of the first seven weeks of this season and hopefully he's just beat up and we can get him back healthy."
The biggest shot was a knock-out hit to the head by right tackle Albert Haynesworth.
"It's a little bit of my lower back and my hip," Schaub said. "I just landed right on it. Haynesworth got me.
"I have to talk to the doctors, and we'll see what happens."
Texans - Titans encore: If you missed the Houston Texans scoring a franchise-record 29 points in the fourth quarter, you have a second chance to catch all the action.
The gutsy peformance will be re-aired on NFL Replay in a 90-minute format on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 10:30 p.m. ET exclusively on the NFL Network.
NFL Replay re-airs five of the most exciting games from the weekend without halftime and other elements not critical to the outcome. Plus, the show includes sound bites captured on the field during the game and post-game press conferences, giving fans an inside look at game action they did not see on Sunday.
