FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The Texans' special teams were supposed to be improving under new special-teams coordinator Larry Izzo, a former Pro Bowl special-teams ace with the New England Patriots.
This wasn't the kind of performance that Izzo envisioned, though.
Instead of having rookie running back Tyler Ervin return a kickoff in the first quarter, the Texans had reserve cornerback Charles James back deep for the return after a field goal by Stephen Gostkowski staked the Patriots to a 3-0 lead.
James made a questionable decision to take it out of the end zone and fumbled it away as running back Brandon Bolden popped it out of his hands.