"The one person in Kansas City brave enough to defend Dwayne Bowe passed on the opportunity to claim his vindication.

"I'm not in that business," Chiefs coach Todd Haley said after Bowe had one of his best games as a Chief, albeit in a 35-31 loss to the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium.

"No vindication at all for me. I'm just happy that the kid continues to work and wants to be good."

Bowe caught six passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns. His 42-yard touchdown in the third quarter was spectacular. Bowe did what he does best. He caught a short pass and avoided several tackle attempts on his way to the end zone.

One of the passes that didn't result in a touchdown came when Bowe scooped up a low throw on a third-down play and extended what would become another touchdown drive.

This happened a week after Bowe dropped a pass in the end zone in the third quarter of a loss in Indianapolis. The points the Chiefs failed to get on that play were the ones that would have put them in the lead against the defending AFC champion Colts.

It was only the latest in a string of big drops for Bowe, and at the time Haley's patience with Bowe seemed foolish.

But Haley was Bowe's only public friend last week. The coach defended the receiver and was rewarded in Houston for his words.

"I told him during the game at one point and I told him in the locker room that this isn't about some plays he made out there today," Haley said. "This is about what he's been doing, and because he's been doing the things you're supposed to do as a football player/wide receiver, I think you see some results like (Sunday's).

"I've been saying for quite some amount of time that Dwayne has done nothing but make progress.

Bowe was the favorite receiver of quarterback Matt Cassel. The Chiefs played without their other starting wide receiver, Chris Chambers, who inactive because of a finger injury.

"I've got a tremendous amount of confidence in Dwayne Bowe," Cassel said. "Week in and week out he's shown me that. Obviously last week he had a few mishaps, but that's just one of those rarities than happen in football. He came back this week, and I was really happy for him and proud of him that he showed up like I thought he (would) and he made big plays."

Cassel had one of his better days of the season, completing 20 of his 29 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. His first scoring pass went for 2 yards to linebacker Mike Vrabel, who occasionally moonlights as a tight end in goal-line situations."