by By JORDAN GODWIN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE , The Houston Chronicle

"We were up at that point, and I just tried to have a little fun," Anderson said. "Looking back now, there's not much to dance about, but we had played well on that first drive, and I didn't expect us to play so poorly after that. I don't think anyone did."

The 8-yard pass put the Texans on the board first, giving them a 7-0 lead with 8:55 left in the first quarter. The Texans' offense marched down the field on the first drive, moving 73 yards on 11 plays. Running back Steve Slaton gained 18 yards on four carries, and Matt Schaub completed five of six passes for 55 yards. The touchdown pass that ended the drive was Schaub's first of the preseason.

"We took it right down the field on the opening drive and got seven points," Schaub said. "But after that, we didn't convert a lot of opportunities. It's disappointing, and we've got to go fix a few things."

The Saints answered just as efficiently to tie the game on a 10-play, 70-yard drive.

Schaub finished 11-of-16 for 97 yards and a 105.5 rating. Backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky entered the game and threw an interception on his first drive.

"Bad play by me," Orlovsky said. "I made a bad decision by even throwing it after the defense shut the play down."

Casey has gain and pain

In the second half, Orlovsky threw a touchdown pass to receiver Andr? Davis, but he later fumbled in the red zone.

"I didn't do enough to get a win tonight," Orlovsky said. "I'll go to sleep thinking that, but I'll come back in tomorrow to watch the film and see what was done poorly."

A bright spot in the Texans' offense was rookie fifth-round pick James Casey out of Rice. Casey caught an Orlovsky pass midway through the third quarter for a 21-yard gain.

"That was my first play on offense, and I made the catch so I was excited about that," Casey said. "But the good plays don't matter in a loss."

Casey, an Azle native, had plenty of family and friends in attendance. The small crowd that remained late in the fourth quarter groaned when Casey was sandwiched hard between two Saints defenders, causing him to lose the ball.

"I got the breath knocked out of me, but that's just a part of Football," Casey said. "It was my fault, and I should've made the catch."

Time to stand up

Third-string quarterback Alex Brink threw the pass that hung Casey out to dry.

"Considering I've been home for the last six weeks, I feel pretty good about how I played," Brink said. "There's a ton of things I know I could've done better. They're definitely a talented secondary, but we should've been able to move the ball down the field better than we did."

With the Reliant Stadium roof closed, the Texans finished with three turnovers, which was three more than they had last week in rainy Kansas City. The locker room was quiet after the game, and no one was dancing about the 38-14 loss.

"We didn't come out and run the ball like we should against their defense," Schaub said. "There's some things that we have to clean up, and stand up and say, ?We're not going to let that happen.'"

jordan.godwin@chron.com

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