NEW ORLEANS — A couple of things stood out during the New Orleans Saints' second preseason game last night — the offense can still move the ball and the pass defense remains an ugly mess.

Running backs Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush gave the fans something to look forward to, while cornerback Jason David brought back the nightmares of his lackluster season of 2007 during the Saints' 31-27 loss to the Houston Texans in the Louisiana Superdome.

McAllister lined up for 11 snaps with all but one of them occurring on the Saints' final offensive drive of the first half. McAllister, coming off a torn ACL in his left knee and microfracture surgery on the right, displayed same tackle-to-tackle instinct as he ran for 16 yards on four carries and two catches for 10 yards.

The more encouraging part of McAllister's outing was the way he piled his way for two first downs on short yardage situations to continue a late second half scoring drive. He picked up three yards on a second-and-one play with 5:02 left in the half and gained five yards on a second-and-three from the Houston 20 with 2:21 remaining.

"I'm happy with the way this first game, this first chance to play, went," McAllister said. "I felt good out there. I felt like I played average at best, but it's a start, and you have to start somewhere. I will take a few good four-yard carries like I had (Saturday). I ran with some toughness and I put my foot down a couple of times in there."

It led to an acrobatic Marques Colston touchdown grab to give the Saints a 20-17 lead going into halftime. Colston mirrored an outfielder stealing a home run at the wall with 59 seconds left when he leaped near the sideline and brought down a 5-yard scoring pass from Drew Brees one handed with a defender draped on him.

Bush didn't expect to play against the Texans as he nursed a sore left knee. The way he played Saturday resembled the Bush of 2006 rather than of last year.

Bush literally hurdled the Texans' Jacques Reeves inside the Houston 5 on his way to a 12-yard scoring pass from Brees to trim the Texans' lead to 14-13. It was Bush's only catch along with seven carries for 24 yards.

The Saints' first-team offense was 2-for-4 on converting touchdowns in the red zone with Martin Gramatica connecting on field goals of 25 and 33 yards. Brees wasn't too shabby going 12-for-17 through the air for 147 yards and the two scores.

Texans quarterback Matt Schaub outperformed, though, and knew exactly whom to pick on in the Saints secondary — David.

Schaub threw three passes during the first drive. All three were to David's side. All three were completed. Two went for first downs — a 14-yard catch by Andre Davis on third down and 9 and a 17-yard grab by Kevin Walter.

Then on third and 6 from the Saints 26, Schaub immediately targeted David from the snap. The Texans quarterback found an open Walter across the middle for a 26-yard touchdown to give the Texans a 7-3 lead with 5:30 left in the first quarter.

The fans booed the first time David failed on pass coverage and the jeering escalated following every completion. Walter ended with six catches for 100 yards and only played the first half.

"It's all about execution," David said. "We have to all go out there and do a better job of execution, me myself, and just work hard and try to get better."

Vonta Leach also caught a 1-yard TD pass from Schaub with 12:39 left in the half to give Houston a 14-6 advantage. Schaub compiled a near flawless passer rating of 154.9 as he went 14-for-16 passing for 187 yards and two touchdowns as Schaub faced nearly no pass rush. A perfect passer rating is 158.3.

Coach Sean Payton said the defense didn't play well in any phase, lacked energy and felt like the unit took a step back Saturday night. He also didn't simply want to point the finger at David and said the blame goes around the room.

"The thing I struggle with is a team punts twice all night and we can say it's the preseason and it's going to be OK but I thought, defensively, we were poor," Payton said.

Both teams exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter. The Texans' Chris Taylor scampered for a 1-yard TD run with 9:06 remaining to push Houston back ahead 24-20. Backup fullback Kevin Dudley caught a 1-yard scoring pass from Mark Brunell to give the Saints a 27-24 lead with 46 seconds left.

Steve Slaton sealed the win for the Texans when he rushed for a 10-yard TD with 12:01 remaining in the game to go up 31-27.