The Saints fell to the Texans 27-14 Saturday Night at Reliant Stadium. Saturday night's game puts the Texans preseason record at 2-0 and drops the Saints preseason record to 1-1.
The highlight for the Saints was rookies RB Mark Ingram and WR Joseph Morgan scoring touchdowns for the second straight week.
QB Drew Brees completed 7-14 for 109 yards. Daniel went 7-14 for 127 yards with a touchdown and interception. QB Sean Canfield took over in the fourth quarter and finished the game 4-8 for 50 yards.
RB Pierre Thomas led the Saints in rushing with 33 yards on six carries. Ingram had another solid performance as he notched 25 yards on seven carries, including a one-yard touchdown run. RB Daren Sproles chipped in with three carries for 24 yards.
TE Jimmy Graham, WR Lance Moore, WR Montez Billings and WR Adrian Arrington each had two receptions.
DB Jabari Greer led the Saints defense with six total tackles.
"We are not a finished product and we have a long way to go," said Saints Head Coach Sean Payton. "We are going to have to gain something from (tonight). We have to look at it closely and recognize that we are not just going to be able to roll the ball out there to play and play well. There are a lot of things that go into playing successful football and certainly we didn't do that tonight."
The Saints won the coin toss and chose to receive. The Saints running game dominated the opening drive as Ingram, Sproles and Thomas combined for 38 yards on seven carries on the drive. The Saints drove all the way inside the Texans five-yard line when Brees was hit by DE Antonio Smith and fumbled. LB Mario Williams recovered the ball.
The Texans drove down the field for 72 yards in seven plays and the drive was capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by RB Arian Foster.
After gaining a nice first down off a Graham 11-yard reception, the Saints couldn't gain much more on their second drive as they were forced to punt.
The Texans drove 80 yards in three plays on their next drive and took a 14-0 lead after a 28-yard run by Foster for his second score of the game.
On the Saints first drive of the second half, the black and gold continued to pound the ball with the running game. The drive benefited from a 25-yard kickoff return by WR Courtney Roby. Brees connected with WR Robert Meachem for a 43-yard gain to put the Saints inside the Texans' 10-yard line. Four plays later, Ingram rumbled his way for the Saints first score of the game and his second touchdown of the preseason.
The Saints stopped the Texans from getting in the endzone for the first time on the next drive but Houston still increased their lead with a 49-yard field goal by K Neil Rackers.
QB Chase Daniel entered for Brees on the next drive. Three plays into Daniel's first drive, he launched a beautiful 56-yard pass to Morgan for the Saints second score of the game with 7:10 left in the second quarter.
The Texans offense continued their strong start as they drove down the field and put their third touchdown on the board off a four-yard run by RB Bent Tate. Tate's score gave the Texans a 24-14 advantaeg with 1:56 left in the first half.
Just before halftime, Rackers missed on a 33-yard field goal attempt.
The Saints forced the Texans to punt for the first time on the first drive of the second half.
The Saints could not capitalize off the Texans punt. After reaching Houston's 46-yard line, Daniel was sacked by LB Brooks Reed and fumbled. DE Scooter Berry scooped it up and returned it 23 yards.
The Texans drove to the Saints' 22-yard line where Rackers booted his second field goal of the night on 40-yard kick to increase Houston's lead to 27-14 with 9:13 left in third quarter.
