GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NFL: DENVER (6-7) at HOUSTON (6-7)

By Ted Dunham
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


HOUSTON (Ticker) -- With their playoff hopes hanging by a thread,the Houston Texans had little problem handing coach Gary Kubiakhis first win over mentor Mike Shanahan.


Sage Rosenfels accounted for two touchdowns and the Texans useda strong second-half rushing performance from Ron Dayne to keepalive their postseason hopes with a 31-13 win over the DenverBroncos on Thursday night.


Houston (7-7) barely is afloat in the AFC playoff race, sitting1 1/2 games behind the Cleveland Browns (8-5) for the finalspot. The Tennessee Titans (7-6) and Buffalo Bills (7-6) alsoare in the running.


The Bills take on the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday, while theTitans visit the Kansas City Chiefs.


Kubiak served under Shanahan in Denver for 11 seasons from1995-2005 as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbackscoach before taking the Texans' coaching position on January 26,2006.


Shanahan's congratulatory gesture to Kubiak after Thursday'sgame was short and sweet.


"I just said 'Hey, great job,'" Shanahan said. "'You got yourteam ready to play. You outplayed and outcoached us.' You haveto give a lot of credit to Houston to come out in the secondhalf and control the tempo of the game and run the ballextremely well. They did a much better job of stopping the runthan we did running the football."


Kubiak was just grateful to emerge with a victory.

"It wouldn't matter who the win was against," Kubiak said. "Thekey is that the Texans got a big win tonight. I have so muchrespect for Mike (and) that whole organization.


"There's a lot of faces over there I've been through many gameswith. I was thinking today that Mike and I - as a player andcoach - have been in over 350 NFL games. That's a lot of ball,and I'll always have a lot of respect for what he does."

Rosenfels helped Houston build an early 7-0 lead with the firstrushing score of his career. He was a perfect 4-of-4 on theTexans' game-opening drive, which put the team in position forits third consecutive TD drive to open a contest.


After faking a handoff to running back Darius Walker on theopening series, the reserve quarterback - who was making hissecond straight start for an injured Matt Schaub - beat Denver'sdefense as he rolled out to the left side and outraced theBroncos to the end zone for a five-yard TD.


With the Texans holding a slim 10-6 lead, Dayne extended theadvantage when he capped a nine-play, 74-yard drive - the club'sfirst of the second half - with six-yard scoring run up themiddle.


Dayne, who did not record a carry in the first half, finishedwith 11 for 67 yards.


"Ron did a great job," Rosenfels said. "When you can run theball, it's a great feeling. It just opens up so many otherthings."


Following Denver's scoring drive at the end of the thirdquarter, Rosenfels dashed the Broncos' hopes of gaining groundin the AFC playoff race when he found Andre Johnson in the endzone for his only touchdown pass of the contest to push theadvantage to 24-13 with 10:06 remaining.


"To win on a short week (is good)," Rosenfels said. "We hadsome people banged up - (linebacker) DeMeco Ryans, (offensivelineman) Chester Pitts and myself. But the crowd being asjacked up as they were, that made the pain go away pretty quick.Our defense did a great job of stopping the run and gettingthe ball in our hands."


Rosenfels completed 16-of-27 passes for 200 yards with aninterception.


The Texans added their final score when fullback Vonta Leachdrove through the heart of the Broncos' defense for a one-yardTD plunge that gave Houston a 31-13 cushion with 3:20 left inthe game.


Much-maligned defensive end Mario Williams had his best game asa pro, setting a new franchise single-game record with 3 1/2sacks. His performance also made him Houston's career sacksleader with 17 1/2.


"This was our first big-stage game, and we showed the world whatwe can do," Williams said. "When I heard that 'Super Mario'music (in the stadium), I got pumped up."


A former first overall pick who dealt with a foot injury formost of last season as well as inevitable comparisons with theplayer many expected to go first in last season's draft - Saintsrunning back Reggie Bush - Williams trails only Seattle'sPatrick Kerney with a franchise-best 13 sacks this season.

Despite notching at least one sack in each of the last fivecontests, and nine overall in that span, Williams downplayed thePro Bowl conversation that has been directed his way with hisplay of late.


"It's out of my hands," Williams said. "Obviously, I'd like togo, but the most important thing is the last two games. I'm notthinking about (the Pro Bowl). Hopefully, we'll be playing inJanuary."


The defense played a key role for the Texans, who sacked JayCutler five times in the contest and held the vaunted Broncos'rushing attack to just 72 yards.


Additionally, the Texans stopped the Broncos on two fourth-downplays in the third quarter as Denver (6-8) was threatening totake the lead.


Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler said that typified Denver'soffensive frustrations.


"We couldn't quite punch it in," said Scheffler, who scored theBroncos' lone touchdown. "There were (either) penalties or alack of blocking. There are a lot of things that you can pointat. We just didn't bring it tonight.


"A lot of things don't seem to be going right, so we've just gotto finish these last two games on a high note and take it intonext year. We've just got to put everything in place everygame. Until we do that, we'll be .500."


Cutler finished 27-of-39 for 254 yards and a TD for the Broncos.Brandon Marshall, who had nine catches for 83 yards at thehalf, ended the contest with a career-best 11 receptions for 107yards.


"I thought they were quicker than us," Cutler said. "Theydominated up front a little bit, I missed some throws early on.... We just weren't sharp. That level that we had last weekwasn't there."


Kubiak believes his team is directly responsible for creatinghavoc for opponents on a more frequent basis.


"We've been in some great games here in the last month, andtwice we've failed late in the third quarter and fourthquarter," Kubiak said. "We got ourselves right back in the sameposition against Tampa (Bay) and Denver, and we got better.

"The key to our football team right now is that we have madeourselves go right back to some of the places we failed. Wewanted to play big games in December, and we're doing that."