HOUSTON — Dom Capers is playing the role of spoil sport. Or at least the voice of reason. With fans' imaginations running wild after the Houston Texans shocked the Dallas Cowboys — and maybe even themselves — with a 19-10 victory Sunday night in their first regular-season game, celebrations weren't too much short of Super Bowl fervor.

        Capers has seen this before and it makes him shudder. His own elation wisely is tempered with caution.

        “The toughest thing for all of us is to handle any success that you have,” Capers said. “I think for every 10 people who can handle adversity, there's only one who can handle success. It's the most difficult thing. That's where you have to take the mature approach.”

        Capers coached the expansion Carolina Panthers to unparalleled success in 1995 with a 7-9 record, the best first-season mark of any NFL expansion team. The Panthers were in the NFC championship game their second season.

        “You can't take that poison pill of success when all of a sudden you've gone out and we've won our first game and everybody's telling us what a great job we did,” Capers said. “You can't take that poison pill.

        “You've got to remember all the hard work, attention to detail and all preparation that went into allowing us to do what we did. You can't forget that and you can't relax one bit.”

        Joe Gibbs told Capers he was making a mistake by winning too soon in his first season at Carolina. Capers learned that lesson well when the Panthers cratered after two seasons, while expectations didn't, and he was fired.

        Now, Capers is seeing the same feelings unfold. Not even the Panthers won their first game. The Texans are the first expansion team since the 1961 Minnesota Vikings to win their debut game.

        Texans fans have been warned from the beginning to be content with a slow, steady climb into competitiveness. Maybe in five years they'll be good enough to shoot for the Super Bowl.

        But after Sunday's victory, it's difficult for fans and players to put aside the scene in the gleaming new $449 million Reliant Stadium. A crowd of 69,604 was almost crazed with excitement over having pro football back after an absence of six years.

        Did it match the “Luv Ya Blue” era with Bum Phillips? Or the Oilers' famous battles with the Steelers? Or Phillips promising to kick in the door to the Super Bowl? Or 50,000 fans at pep rallies?

        It was close.

        Rookie quarterback David Carr didn't want to leave the celebration. He thought about sleeping on the field.

        So did the fans.

        But Capers is the first to realize the cheering over one game must stop and the long, less-exciting road ahead won't always be as exhilarating.

        It would be easy this week, as they prepare for Game 2 at San Diego on Sunday, to forget the gifts presented the Texans by the Cowboys, and the progress Houston still needs to make, especially on offense.

        The Cowboys gave the Texans 117 yards in penalties. One was a 43-yard pass interference call on the first play of the game that set up Carr's 19-yard touchdown pass to Billy Miller in the Texans' first 2:14 of regular-season history.

        Mistakes by the Texans kept the margin from being greater at halftime. Jermaine Lewis dropped a sure touchdown pass near the end zone after completely outdistancing the Cowboys' secondary.

        When the players return to practice Wednesday, the sweet feelings of victory must be replaced by the harsh reality of getting ready for another game.

        “The afterglow of that victory has to be gone and you have to be totally focused on the next week,” Capers said. “That's extremely difficult. I don't care if you're a coach, player or whoever.”

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