(My Sportsbook) - When a professional football team has minus-five yards net passing in a game, chances are that team probably received a good old- fashioned butt-kicking.

For the Houston Texans though, a franchise that has had its fair share of bumps and bruises, it was still enough to win a game over the hapless Oakland Raiders.

Kicker Kris Brown booted three fourth-quarter field goals, and backup running back Ron Dayne rushed for 95 yards on 18 carries as the Texans scored 16 second-half points to defeat the Raiders, 23-14, in Week 13.

With the victory over Oakland, the Texans became the first team in 25 years to win a game with negative net-yards passing. Ironically, another team from Houston, the Oilers back on October 4, 1981, were the last team to finish a game with negative net-yards passing and still find its way into the win column.

Despite the poor showing offensively, Houston's special teams and defense picked up an offense that struggled to put together 124 yards of total net offense. The Texans' defense forced five turnovers and tied their season high with five sacks.

"It's never ugly when you win," Houston head coach Gary Kubiak said in his post-game press conference. "That was one of the greatest defensive and special teams efforts I've ever been a part of in football. You have to do what you have to do to win. This football team wasn't going to find a way to be denied. It was going to find a way to win even though we weren't moving the ball a lick or weren't able to throw it at all. Just a tremendous character- check in that locker room for those guys to find a way to win."

The Texans (4-8) now have four wins on the campaign, two more than all of last season. The victory was also Houston's second victory on the road this year, also two more wins than last season.

With another season down the drain for Houston, cornerback Dunta Robinson believes the victory over Oakland last Sunday can be a step in the right direction for a struggling franchise looking to build off of anything positive.

"Man, did we need this win bad," said Robinson after the game. "It's the first time I looked up and saw negative-5 yards passing, so it was crazy to win a game like this. We've been on the other end of that so many times, it was good to finally pull one of these out. This could be a stepping stone for us."

CARR AND PASSING GAME TAKE A BACK SEAT

Quarterback David Carr had a game to forget last Sunday against the Raiders. He completed only 7-of-14 passes for just 32 yards. Carr's longest pass completion was for a scant nine yards.

"We weren't productive at all," Carr said after the game. "We didn't do anything. I didn't do anything."

A large part of the problem was poor pass protection from the offensive line, which surrendered five sacks and forced Carr to lose two fumbles after being thrown to the ground.

"It's obvious we didn't throw the ball a lick," explained Kubiak. "When the quarterback's struggling, that's on me as a coach. I've got to find out what's causing it. When you struggle as bad as we did protecting and throwing the ball, you're going to have problems. It came down to us not being able to throw, so we had to run."

TEXANS RUN ALL DAYNE LONG

Dayne, who finished with a season-high 95 yards on the ground, picked up 83 of those yards in the second half, when the Texans scored 16 points.

"He (Dayne) probably should have had about 40 (carries) of them," said Kubiak. "The kid wanted the ball at the end. He wasn't going to let us not get it done. Our guys up front stepped up and knocked them off the ball at the end. That was the difference, being able to get in position to kick those few field goals."

Dayne, who recently has played a backup role to rookie Wali Lundy, also played a bit of a coaching role against Oakland according to Kubiak.

"Ronnie's a big load. You can see, Ronnie was screaming from the huddle, 'Give me the ball.' Heck, Ronnie was even calling some of the runs we were running. We were running tight zone, and he said, 'Let me go wide.' He was making the call. It's a credit to him and the guys up front."

RYANS LEADS THE DEFENSIVE CHARGE

Rookie middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans recovered and forced a fumble, intercepted a pass, recorded a sack and registered a game-high 15 tackles, 14 unassisted against Oakland.

In many ways, the play of Ryans has been overlooked around the league this season, but his coach feels that is all about to change.

"It's kind of been his year, really," Kubiak said. "Those things stand out, when you start talking about turnovers. But you and I both know that the kid's had a year that's been special as a rookie. I don't know that I've been around one like that. Now with those types of things happening for him turnover-wise, I'm sure he'll get a lot more recognition because he sure as hell deserves it. He's been special this year."

For the season, the second-round pick from Alabama has 114 total tackles to go along with 3 1/2 sacks.

TEXANS TIDBITS

-Lundy had a three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter against Oakland, and moved into second place among Texans' rookies with his fourth rushing touchdown of the season. Running back Domanick Davis had eight rushing touchdowns in 2003.

-Cornerback Dexter McCleon's interception against the Raiders was the team's 10th of the season, matching the 2002 team's total, the third-best in franchise history.

-The four sacks registered by the Texans defense in the first half against Oakland was a franchise record.

UP NEXT

The Texans get their second look at rookie quarterback Vince Young as the Tennessee Titans come to Houston this Sunday.

Young, who many fans wanted to see Houston draft first overall in last April's draft, has guided the Titans to a 5-7 record this season.

Tennessee has already defeated the Texans, 28-22, earlier this year at the end of October and owns a 7-2 advantage in the all-time series.

The Titans are coming off an impressive 20-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, and have won three straight.