*Watch the live streaming video of coach Gary Kubiak's weekly press conference at 3:30 p.m. CT Monday on Texans TV.
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Injury redux: Late in the third quarter, wide receiver Andre Johnson re-aggravated the high-ankle sprain he suffered last week at Washington. He limped off the field after being tackled on an 11-yard catch, had his ankle re-taped and was back on the field about 10 plays later.
"We're going to do the same thing we did last week as far as treatment and see what happens," Johnson said of his outlook for next week at Oakland. "It was bothering me. It's been bothering me since I injured it, but I'm able to play with it. If I wasn't able to play with it, I wouldn't be out on the field. I felt comfortable enough to go out and play with it."
Johnson and Texans coach Gary Kubiak said that team doctors told them that Johnson's ankle wasn't any worse than it was last Sunday. Kubiak held Johnson out of the Texans' final two possessions to avoid risking further injury with the game out of reach.
Quarterback Matt Schaub was intercepted on a deep pass for Johnson late in the third quarter, but Johnson said that it was unrelated to his injury. He finished the game with four catches for 64 yards.
Mr. 100:Arian Foster, who leads the league in rushing, ran for 106 yards on 17 attempts with an average of 6.2 yards per carry. He's the first player to gain 100 rushing yards against the Cowboys in 20 games, dating back to Dec. 20, 2008.
"We emphasized the run game this offseason," Foster said. "They told us our run game wasn't good this offseason. We wanted to come out and prove that it was."
It wasn't all good for Foster on Sunday. He fumbled for the first time this season, turning the ball over to the Cowboys in the fourth quarter two plays after Dallas went up 24-6.
"You see what you did positively, but you want to focus on what you did negatively," Foster said. "We made some mistakes out there that we don't need to be making, and so we're going to go back to work tomorrow (and) correct those mistakes."
Red zone blues:The Texans were 1-of-3 in the red zone, with the lone touchdown coming with 1:15 left to play and the score at 27-6.
Early in the second quarter, left tackle Rashad Butler was flagged for a false start on second-and-goal from the five. The Texans were forced to kick a 24-yard field goal three plays later.
Early in the fourth quarter with the score at 17-3, the Texans were unable to get in the end zone from first-and-goal at the one-yard line. Foster carried twice for a loss of two yards, and Schaub was sacked for a nine-yard loss on third down. Again, the Texans came away with a short field goal.
"It comes down to execution," Foster said. "We can't put up 3's when we're trying to get 7's down there in the red zone. That's something we tried to emphasize in the offseason…We shouldn't have problems scoring like we did."
The Texans were an efficient 4-of-6 in the red zone in their first two games.
Too many sacks:With the Texans featuring two new starters on the offensive line in Butler and right guard Mike Brisiel, the Cowboys sacked Schaub four times. Three came courtesy of linebacker DeMarcus Ware.
All of Dallas' sacks came on third down. One put the Texans out of field goal range, and another forced them to settle for a field goal in the red zone.
Schaub now has been sacked 11 times this season, including nine times in the last two games. He was sacked 25 times all of last season.
"Our quarterback went down too much in the last two weeks, I can tell you that," Kubiak said. "You try to do things formation-wise and protection-wise to help, but basically, somebody's got to block the guy. Whether you're doubling with the tight end and tackle or you're doing it with just your tackle or chipping with your back, you've got to be good enough to get it done."
Noteworthy:Walter, who caught three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown in the final two minutes, has scored a touchdown in every game this season…strong safety Bernard Pollard led all players with a career-high 15 tackles…tight end Owen Daniels, who had a season-ending ACL injury in 2009, had a season-high three catches for 24 yards…kicker Neil Rackers is now 7-of-8 on the season after making field goals of 24 and 30 yards on Sunday…running back Derrick Ward made his first carry as a Texan in the third quarter, picking up one yard. He finished with two carries for four yards.
