Texans' special teams inept against Patriots

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.

The turnover led to immediate points for the Patriots as rookie…