San Diego 24, Houston 3

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Curtis Conway caught four passes for 101 yards and a touchdown and rushed for a second score Sunday as the San Diego Chargers handed the Houston Texans their first loss, 24-3.

With 3:27 left in the first quarter, Chargers linebacker Junior Seau intercepted a pass by rookie David Carr and returned it to the Houston six, setting Conway up for his second touchdown, a three-yard reverse which opened the Chargers' lead to 14-0.

"We worked on it in practice," Conway said. "I thought since we were that close, we would give it to LaDainian (Tomlinson). But he called the play. It was easy for me."

"We can't go into a game and not have any breaks," Carr said. "We're going to have to get all the breaks and have the ball bounce our way the whole time."

Seau, who also had seven tackles and a sack, led a suffocating Chargers defense that sacked Carr nine times and held the Houston offense to 10 first downs and 187 total yards.

"We went out and executed our game plan," Seau said. "They were well prepared. Defensively, the guys came out here and played. We didn't want to be complacent."

The defense delivered its biggest blow at 11:40 of the fourth quarter, when rookie linebacker Ben Leber forced Carr to fumble in the end zone. Defensive end Raylee Johnson recovered for a San Diego touchdown and a 24-3 lead.

"We got them in situations in the second half where our defense dictated what they were going to do. We made them predictable," Johnson said.

Drew Brees, who was 15 of 28 for 163 yards, connected with Conway for a 35-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give the Chargers a 7-0 lead.

Carr, a week removed from an impressive debut in a win over the Dallas Cowboys, completed only six of 25 passes for 88 yards. He was intercepted twice, one of them by safety Vernon Fox, a former teammate at Fresno State.

"It was almost inevitable that we were going to meet somehow," Carr said. "It's good for him."

The Texans, who failed to become the first expansion team to win its first two games, scored their only points on a 45-yard field goal by Kris Brown in the second quarter.

"It was uphill the whole time," Carr said. "They were a better team today."

Steve Christie kicked a 36-yard field goal to extend the Chargers' lead to 17-3 at the end of the first half.

San Diego (2-0) has outscored its opponents, 58-9, in the first two games of the season.

"I have the sense that there's a tremendous amount of strong feeling amongst our players that they want to win," Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said. "They want to be successful and they're willing to work hard to do that and I think we knew that going into the regular season."

Seau had a chance to make a safety late in the first half when he sacked Carr at the goal line, but replays appeared inclusive and the Chargers linebacker was awarded a six-yard sack.

"I was lobbying for a safety," Seau said. "When you're ahead things are rolling your way. Preparation was the key to our success today."

San Diego capped the scoring when Johnson recoverd a fumble in the end zone just over three minutes into the fourth.

The Texans got inside the Chargers' 20 just once with just over a minute remaining in the game.

"It was our first opportunity to play on the road and I'm disappointed in the loss today," Houston coach Dom Capers said. "We played a team that simply outplayed us."