GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NFL: HOUSTON (2-1) at ATLANTA (0-3)

By Phil Foley
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


ATLANTA (Ticker) - Joey Harrington and Michael Jenkins ruinedMatt Schaub's return to Atlanta.


Harrington tossed two touchdown passes and Jenkins found the endzone twice to lead the Atlanta Falcons to a 26-16 victory overthe Houston Texans on Sunday.


Schaub served as the backup quarterback for the past fourseasons in Atlanta (1-3) before he was traded to Houston in theoffseason for draft picks. But the move backfired for theFalcons when starting quarterback Michael Vick ran into legaltrouble and was suspended indefinitely by the league after hepleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges.


Atlanta turned to backup quarterback Joey Harrington, who theclub signed as Vick's backup in the offseason. The 28-year oldhad been dreadful coming into this one, completing 66-of-96passes for 760 yards and two touchdowns in three games.

Meanwhile, Schaub had been brilliant, connecting on 63-of-83passes for 688 yards and four touchdowns for the Texans(2-2).


But it was Harrington, who was the hero in this one.

Harrington completed 23-of-29 passes for 223 yards and two TDs,leading the Falcons (1-3) to their first win of the season.

"It's a positive step," Harrington said. "Being 1-3 is not where<div class="pre">we want to be, but we made a positive step to where we want to</div>be."


"We have been fighting through adversity all year long and theteam has always played hard, practiced hard and prepared hard,"said Falcons coach Bobby Petrino, who recorded his firstNFL coaching victory. "I like the way we played."

After Schaub found Andre Davis for a 35-yard touchdown pass at5:27 of the first quarter to give the Texans a 7-3 lead,Harrington and the Falcons responded.


Harrington engineered a seven play, 68 yard drive, connectingwith Jenkins for a 5-yard TD pass with 1:13 remaining in thefirst quarter.


"Mike (Jenkins) is developing a feel in the middle of thefield," Harrington said. "He made a great move on the safety,got in the middle and made a great catch in the middle of theend zone."


Warrick Dunn kept alive the drive by gaining two yards on acrucial 3rd-and-1 situation before Harrington found Roddy Whitefor a 34-yard completion to take the ball to the Houston 23.

Atlanta found the end zone again thanks to a costly Texansfumble.


Linebacker Stephen Nichols recovered Vonta Leach's fumble at theHouston 34 before Schaub once again found Jenkins for a 7-yardTD pass at 8:22 of the second to give Atlanta a 17-7 edge.

It was the first multi-touchdown game for the 25-year oldJenkins, who caught six passes for 64 yards.


"We kind of got into a rhythm in the first half," Jenkins said."I caught a couple of passes and caught a couple of touchdowns.Hopefully, we'll continue to do that."


Linebacker Marcus Boley, who forced the fumble leading to theJenkins TD, finished the game with a team-high nine tackles knewthat he needed to come big to help stop the Falcons' slide.

"It was one of those games where I seemed to be at the rightplace at the right time," Boley said. "I've never been 0-3before and it wasn't a good feeling."


"I felt like we was running around and making plays everywhere,"Petrino said. "He is having a really good year for us and hewas really glued into what they were trying to do."

Atlanta took a 20-10 advantage into the half after the two clubstraded field goals before intermission.


Houston and Atlanta traded field goals in the third quarterbefore the Falcons defense stymied the Texans' offense in thered zone.


Schaub found Davis for a 45-yard pass to the Atlanta 20 anddrove the team to the Atlanta 1. But a pressured Schaub threw anincomplete pass on third down setting up a Kris Brown fieldgoal to cut the advantage to 23-16 with 14:52 remaining.

"We've got to (continue) making big stops," Falcons defensive endJohn Abraham said. "We have to keep on going on."

But Morten Andersen answered with a 46-yard field goal to padthe advantage to 26-16.


It appeared as if the Texans the advantage to six when Schaubscampered 13 yards into the end zone with just over two minutesremaining. But the Falcons challenged the call and, uponreview, the officials placed the ball at the Atlanta 1.

The Atlanta defense once again came up big, backing up Houstonto the Atlanta 7 on Schaub's fumble before Kris Brown missed a25-yard field goal with 2:07 remaining in the contest.

"I thought I was in," Schaub said of the called-back touchdown."But looking at the replay, I guess I was just a little short.... But when you can't convert third down with less than two yards,it's definitely frustrating."


Schaub finished 28-of-40 for 317 yards and one touchdown.

"Our quarterback is playing extremely well," Texans coach GaryKubiak said. "He can not turn the ball over. We have to protectthe ball in the pocket, but he is playing well. Our effort isnot a problem at all, but we are not playing very clean and whenyou don't play clean, you can expect to get beat."

Andersen had four field goals for the Falcons, who defeated theTexans for the first time in franchise history.