The Houston Texans have had little trouble rolling over a couple of overmatched opponents in the first two weeks.

It would seem they'll get a much stiffer test in their third game with a date with an old adversary, but with the way Peyton Manning played last week the Texans could be poised for another lopsided victory.

Houston tries to open with three wins for the first time in franchise history Sunday when it visits the Denver Broncos and Manning, who is looking to bounce back from a forgettable performance.

The Texans are first in the NFL in total defense (196.0 yards per game) and scoring defense (8.5 per game), but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering their first two opponents were Miami and Jacksonville. They forced four turnovers in Ryan Tannehill 's debut in a 30-10 win over the Dolphins in Week 1 and allowed a franchise-low 117 yards in last Sunday's 27-7 victory in Jacksonville.

Houston, the only NFL team to open 2-0 in each of the last three seasons, expects a much greater challenge this time around.

"These two are behind us, and it's time to start looking forward," said Houston coach Gary Kubiak, who backed up John Elway with the Broncos from 1983-91 and later worked on Denver's staff under Mike Shanahan. "We know we've got a huge test coming down there, with Peyton leading the way for them and the type of player he is."

The type of player Manning is, however, isn't completely clear.

After throwing two touchdowns and finishing with a 129.2 passer rating in leading the Broncos to a 31-19 victory over Pittsburgh in Week 1, Manning had three interceptions in the first eight minutes of Monday night's 27-21 loss to Atlanta. The NFL's only four-time MVP insists the picks were because of poor decisions and not his surgically repaired neck.

"Really, three poor decisions, three throws into coverage," said Manning, who ended up completing 24-of-37 passes for 241 yards with a touchdown and a QB rating of 58.5. "Each turnover has its own story that no one really wants to hear. I've just got to take care of the ball better."

Questions are being raised about Manning's arm strength and his condition after four neck surgeries and a year off from football, but the 11-time Pro Bowler maintains his confidence has not diminished.

The Texans are also not about to presume that one poor performance by Manning suggests the future Hall of Famer's career is on the decline. They've seen him pick apart their defense too many times.

Manning was 16-2 against Houston during his time in Indianapolis, and his 110.6 QB rating against the Texans is his best against any team he's played more than four times.

"You've got to respect his greatness," Houston left tackle Duane Brown said. "You see what he's able to do when he's on the field, and keeping him off the field is the best defense for us."

The Texans had no trouble chewing up the clock last Sunday, holding the ball for more than 43 minutes, but again, they were playing the Blaine Gabbert -led Jaguars.

Houston's offense has displayed its versatility in its first two contests, as Matt Schaub passed for 266 yards in the opener before giving way to the run game in Week 2. Arian Foster rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries and Ben Tate added 74 yards and two scores on 12 attempts.

As a product of the run-heavy offense, Andre Johnson was limited to 21 yards on three catches. The four-time All-Pro receiver had eight receptions for 119 yards in the opener.

"There are a lot of different approaches we can take to the game, based on what we think is our strength or our matchup," offensive coordinator Rick Dennison said. "That was last game, so I've got to move on."

The Texans might revert back to the passing game, given that Denver has allowed 142 total rush yards on an average of 2.6 per carry.

The Broncos' ground game gave the team a boost last week while Manning struggled, as Willis McGahee carried 22 times for 113 yards.

This is the first matchup between these teams since Denver rallied from 13 points down in the fourth quarter behind two Tim Tebow touchdowns in a 24-23 win on Dec. 26, 2010.

Manning comes up short, Texans beat Broncos 31-25

DENVER (AP) -- Fall behind by 20. Mount a furious comeback. Lose by six.

The ugly interceptions didn't play into Peyton Manning 's second straight defeat, but so much of the rest of it sounded like a broken record - the likes of which the Broncos quarterback doesn't want to hear anymore.

Matt Schaub lost a small chunk of his ear after a brutal hit, but still outplayed Manning, throwing for four touchdowns against a confused Broncos defense Sunday to stake the Houston Texans to a big lead on the way to a 31-25 victory.

"We have to learn from this game, address it, be honest, everybody needs to be accountable and try to improve forward," Manning said. "It's not the ideal situation. Everybody would love to be 3-0. That's not the way it is right now."

It is for Houston, which won its first three games for the first time in the franchise's 11-season history and beat Manning for only the third time in 19 tries - and for the first time ever in a road game.

Manning finished 26 for 52 for 330 yards with no interceptions and two touchdowns. This was his 64th career 300-yard passing game, breaking a tie for the record with Dan Marino. But both of Manning's touchdown passes and 120 of his yards came after the Broncos (1-2) had fallen behind by 20, the way they did in Atlanta last Monday when their rally came up short in a 27-21 loss.

"It's hard to think about anything, really, besides losing two games in a row in a tough fashion," Manning said.

In the Atlanta game, the Denver defense couldn't get the ball back for Manning at the end. This time, it did, but the drive started at the Denver 14-yard line with 20 seconds left and ended with a lost fumble after Broncos receivers tried lateraling at midfield on the last play.

Manning threw three interceptions in the first quarter of the Atlanta game to match his worst quarter in 15 years in the NFL. This time, it was the defense's mistakes, not his own, that put him in the hole.

"Second week in a row we lost by six points," Denver coach John Fox said. "It's the second week in a row we started very slowly. Different side of the ball this time."

Schaub threw for 290 yards. He took advantage of blown coverages to connect with Andre Johnson for a 60-yard score and Kevin Walter for a 52-yard touchdown en route to a 21-5 lead in the second quarter.

After the second score, starting cornerback Tracy Porter was not seen on the field again.

Porter, who returned an interception for a touchdown in Denver's only win this year - the season opener against Pittsburgh - spent the rest of the game guarding the Gatorade table on the sideline. Fox said he had a knee injury. Porter's clothes were still hanging in his locker when reporters were asked to leave the locker room.

"We knew that we had to try to get the ball downfield because they had a lot of people committed to the run," said Texans coach Gary Kubiak, the longtime Denver quarterback and assistant coach, who got his 50th career win. "We did what we had to do to win, convinced them that we had to make some big plays and they did."

Schaub's final touchdown was a 14-yard pass to tight end Owen Daniels , who was locked in one-on-one coverage against a slower defender, linebacker Von Miller . It gave the Texans a 31-11 lead with 1:33 left in the third quarter - placing the Houston defense in the prevent and Manning into desperation mode.

That touchdown pass came about 10 minutes after Schaub was leveled by Joe Mays , which resulted in Denver's second consecutive roughing-the-passer penalty and, eventually, a Texans field goal for a 24-11 lead. Schaub came out for a play and had a big, bloody mark on his left ear.

"I felt fine," Schaub said. "I just lost a piece of my ear. I was bleeding and my helmet came off. So, I had to come out for a play, but I was fine."

Manning had his ups and downs - making some throws to prove the arm strength is certainly there, but also coming up short on a couple of those 18-yard out patterns that are as routine for NFL quarterbacks as making the bed.

His best downfield throw was the 38-yard touchdown to Brandon Stokley that pulled the Broncos within 31-18 with 9:49 left. His second score was a 6-yard touchdown that ricocheted into Joel Dreessen 's hands with 3 minutes left.

There were no interceptions, but that's not to say Houston didn't have its way with the 36-year-old quarterback, who came into the game with 42 career touchdowns against the team he started beating when it was in its expansion season, back in 2002.

Manning's biggest headache in this one was second-year defensive end J.J. Watt, who finished with 2 1/2 sacks and forced a holding call in the third quarter that nullified a 36-yard gain.

"I don't see those numbers of defensive linemen as much. You are looking downfield," Manning said. "I'm probably the wrong guy to ask how he played."

Arian Foster finished with 105 yards on 25 carries for Houston. The Texans converted on four third downs and went 97 yards to take a 14-5 lead when Schaub hit Foster, being covered by defensive lineman Kevin Vickerson , for a 3-yard score that Foster celebrated by blowing kisses to the crowd.

NOTES: DE Elvis Dumervil got his first sack of the season on Denver's first defensive play, a 6-yard loss for the Broncos first safety since 2007. ... In addition to his 2 1/2 sacks, Watt hit Manning in the backfield three times. ... Former Broncos WR Rod Smith was inducted into the Denver Ring of Fame at halftime.

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