SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Blaine Gabbert had the stage to himself in San Franciscos quarterback competition with Colin Kaepernick nursing a sore shoulder and provided a strong finish to an uneven performance in the exhibition opener.Gabbert overcame a shaky start to throw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Vance McDonald before the Houston Texans rallied in the second half against San Franciscos reserves to beat the 49ers 24-13 on Sunday.There were ups and downs, Gabbert said. But we saw when we got into the groove what we can do as a unit.Brock Osweiler didnt fare as well in his Texans debut, failing to lead Houston to any points in three drives. Houston got on the board early when John Simon returned a fumble by Carlos Hyde 41 yards for a touchdown but struggled to generate any offense with its starters.Was it completely what I wanted tonight? Absolutely not. But rarely is it ever, Osweiler said. I think the biggest thing about tonight is we did some really good things offensively and we know we have some things that we need to work on and grow and get better at.With Kaepernick sitting out with tightness in his throwing shoulder, Gabbert got to make his case in the battle to win San Franciscos starting quarterback job for first-year coach Chip Kelly.Gabbert, who started the final eight games last season, did little to improve his position in the first two drives. He was off-target on his first two passes as San Francisco went three-and-out in 41 seconds on the opening drive and started the game 1 for 6 overall.But he was much more effective on the third drive when he scrambled 13 yards for a first down and then hit McDonald for the long score when Benardrick McKinney slipped in coverage.The good thing is that he did settle down, Kelly said. There were some real positives that we can build on but there were some throws that even if you ask Blaine, hed say he wished he had those back.Gabbert finished 4 for 10 for 63 yards and a touchdown.Osweiler, who signed a $72 million, four-year contract with Houston in the offseason, went 4 for 7 for 27 yards. He took one sack and left for good after throwing an incomplete pass to Braxton Miller on fourth down early in the second quarter.To put on the Texan uniform, and run out of the tunnel as a team for the first time, it was certainly special, Osweiler said.Tom Savage threw two TD passes in the second half for Houston, connecting on a 9-yarder to former California receiver Stephen Anderson and a 9-yarder to Akeem Hunt in the fourth quarter.ROOKIE WATCHTexans: Miller, a third-round pick, had four catches for 34 yards, including an acrobatic 24-yard gain in the third quarter from Savage. First-round pick Will Fuller had just one catch for 4 yards.49ers: First-round DL DeForest Buckner was pushed around a bit in the running game and finished with one solo tackle and two assists.INJURY UPDATETexans: CB A.J. Bouye sat out after injuring his groin Friday in practice and will have an MRI on Monday.49ers: Backup QB Thad Lewis was 12 for 21 for 97 yards before leaving the game with a lower-leg injury. ... DL Arik Armstead sat out the game after being limited last week in practice by a shoulder injury.POSITION BATTLESTexans: DL Christian Covington made a good showing as he got a look with the starters with J.J. Watt sidelined with a back injury. Covington forced the fumble by Hyde that led to Houstons first score.49ers: RT Anthony Davis, who sat out last year in temporary retirement, played with the second string behind Trent Brown in his first game in more than 19 months and was beaten by Eric Lee for a sack late in the first half.QUOTABLETexans: Knowing my family and friends are in the stands really supporting me, that was a dream come true, said Anderson, who grew up in nearby San Jose.49ers: Colin isnt 100 percent, Kelly said. It wouldnt have been fair to put him in and judge him on that competition.Sf Air Force 1 Canada . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Air Force Ones Canada . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. http://www.airforce1canadasale.com/nike-air-huarache-canada.html .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Air More Uptempo Canada . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Nike Shox Canada . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday.The idea was to put some excitement into NFL extra points. On Sunday, it became unwise to head to the fridge when the kickers came in.A dozen times in Week 11, those 1-pointers became no-pointers. Blame the swirling winds. Blame the suspect blocking. Blame sloppy holding.Or point fingers at the toes of Mike Nugent and Robbie Gould, who each missed a pair of PATs. Not to mention Stephen Gostkowski and Steven Hauschka. Connor Barth and Kai Forbath. Matt Prater and Cody Parkey. And Jason Myers, who failed on seven extra points last season -- yep, seven -- and still kept his job with the Jaguars.It just drives me crazy to have a poor performance that contributes to a loss, said Nugent, whose Bengals fell 16-12 to Buffalo. Had he made both extra points, a field goal late in the game could have won it for Cincinnati.Thats the second time thats happened this year, that Ive contributed enormously to a loss. If I did what I was brought here to do, wed have two less losses, in my opinion.Several kickers noted they were compensating for the wind, particularly the Giants Gould and the Bears Barth, who coincidentally replaced the veteran Gould in Chicago this season. Kicking in the Meadowlands has never been a picnic, and conditions figure to get worse there and in many other NFL cities as the schedule moves along.But one of the main reasons for bringing in veteran kickers -- Myers is in his second pro season, Hopkins and Parkey their third, but the rest are pretty seasoned NFLers -- is their ability to handle such challenges, mentally and physically.They failed in record numbers Sunday.The first one I hit was where I was hitting them in pregame, Gould said. I thought I made it and it went outside the left upright. The second one I just didnt hit a good ball. Today was tough, but I have to make them.His coach, Ben McAdoo, was giving Gould the benefit of the doubt.It was a tough day to kick the football, McAdoo admitted, also knowing it was his decision to bring in Gould after the Giants waived Josh Brown in October following revelations about his abusive behavior toward his former wife.Well go back, well look at it, well talk about everything. The wind obviouslly was a factor every time you had a play in the kicking game today.ddddddddddddThat was not the case in Detroit. Ford Field is indoors, yet Prater and Myers had misses.So whats going on when a two-time All-Pro such as Gostkowski misses three PATs in the last five games? Or Hauschka has an extra-point kick blocked in successive games?Not to mention perhaps the play of the year last weekend, when Denver ran back a blocked extra point against New Orleans for a defensive 2-point conversion that won the game?A 33-yard kick should be automatic for virtually every NFL kicker, yet we know, 12 times over on Sunday, that is not true.Among the factors contributing are pressure, over-analysis, poor mechanics, weak blocking and, well, bad luck.Before last year, when the new rule placed the ball at the 15 for extra-point kicks, little thought or preparation was needed for such chip shots. Now, kickers -- and holders, snappers and blockers -- do need to think about the kicks. But they dont get a whole bunch of extra practices on them.Kickers traditionally are a quirky bunch. That isnt necessarily a bad thing; just look at how successful Sebastian Janikowski has been for the Raiders.But they also are prone to thinking too hard about kicks. Why else would opposing coaches try to ice them?Bad weather, particularly slippery surfaces and wind, have a huge effect. A wet ball is much harder to boot accurately, as well as more difficult to snap and hold. Uncertain footing plagues kickers legs and psyches.As for the wind, thats the enemy of everyone but defenders on a football team.So those excuses sometimes work, though, again, not in the friendly kicking confines of a dome.The biggest issue for kickers comes when they get in a rut. Unlike other positions that require deep knowledge of a playbook, kickers and punters are much more on their own. When placekickers cant find the middle of the uprights, they usually find themselves on their own and off the roster.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL. ' ' '
