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Texans lose Daniels for season

With their 31-10 win over the Bills in Week 8, the Texans won their third straight game to improve to 5-3 on the season. But as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports, Houston lost tight end Owen Daniels for the season due to a knee injury.

Daniels suffered the injury on a play in the first quarter of Sunday’s win. He racked up 39 receptions, 497 yards and five touchdowns coming into Week 8 and was emerging as one of the NFL’s best tight ends, if not the best.

Joel Dressen and rookie James Casey will try to fill the void left by Daniels in Houston’s offense. Casey caught two passes for 14 yards on Sunday, but won’t be nearly as effective as Daniels was for quarterback Matt Schaub.

Although Daniels’ injury certainly puts a damper on things, the Texans have to love heading into the second half with a winning record. But next week is huge, as they play in Indianapolis before taking their bye in Week 10. After their bye, Houston has winnable games against the Titans, Jaguars, Seahawks and Rams, although they do play the undefeated Colts twice, as well as the Dolphins and Patriots.

Should the Giants be concerned about Eli?

During the Giants’ five-game winning streak at the start of the season, Eli Manning didn’t have a QB rating lower than 93.5. In the Giants’ current three-game losing streak, Manning hasn’t had a QB rating higher than 61.0, which includes his 55.7 mark in New York’s embarrassing 40-17 loss to the Eagles in Week 8.

To say that Manning hasn’t been good lately would be an understatement. In the loss to Philadelphia, he was 20-of-39 for 222 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. And given how inaccurate he was most of the day, he could have been intercepted at least two more times.

In his last three games, Manning has thrown six interceptions to just three touchdowns. The mistakes he’s made aren’t typical of a veteran quarterback that has a Super Bowl ring – they’re more akin to a first year starter with little to no experience. He looks like a player with zero confidence and he doesn’t appear to trust his own decision-making.

While the Giants have more issues than just Eli (the secondary has also played poorly and the team continues to struggle with injuries), they have to be concerned with his play. New York has needed him to put the team on his shoulders and carry them to victories and he hasn’t. And based on the way he’s played the past three weeks, there’s serious doubt he’ll be able to break the Giants out of their funk without a lot of help from his defense and running game.

That said, it’s only been three games and while he has looked horrible in those three outing, he looked great in the first five games of the season. The problem is that the Cowboys were the only team with a winning record that the Giants have beaten this year. Eli’s impressive numbers have come against teams like the Redskins, Bucs, Chiefs and Raiders, while he has struggled against tough opponents in the Saints, Cardinals and Eagles, respectively.

With David Carr listed on the depth chart behind Manning, the Giants won’t consider a QB change. But the entire team better start picking up their play before the season starts to slip away from them, and it all starts with Eli.

Report: Cable has had history of violence issues

According to a report by ESPN.com, two women have accused Raiders’ head coach Tom Cable of verbal assault and said that he has a history of violent behavior.

In 1989, Sandy Cable sought a temporary order of protection, which said, in part, “On two occasions, one back in ’86 and the other in ’88, he hit me. The second time in the face, however on attempts to call law enforcement, my husband would rip the phone out of the wall.”

A third woman, Cable’s second wife Glenda, said in documents related to the couple’s 2008 divorce that “in the past he has been physically and verbally abusive to me.” Glenda and Tom Cable were married for 17 years. She declined to speak to

“Outside The Lines”, but is currently receiving support payments from Cable.

Lutz, who dated Cable as recently as January 2009, said she remembers Cable hitting her “three, four times.” She described a scene in a car after they left a restaurant where “[Cable] just got so angry I could not recognize him.”

Last Jan. 6, Lutz said she came to Cable’s house early in the morning and found another woman there. According to a police report from Alameda, Calif., Lutz became “very upset” and “demanded to meet the woman.” Lutz told police that after an altercation, Cable “grabbed her by the left arm, causing her to fall to the ground” and “eventually pick[ed] her up and pushed her out the front door.”

Lutz went to the emergency room and was treated for back pain and a contusion. Lutz also told police Cable had grabbed her by the neck several months earlier.

Just when Cable and the Raiders think that they’ve put some issues behind them, this story reaches the surface. It’s unfair to speculate at this point because we’re just hearing one side of the story, but this can’t be good for Cable.

And the Oakland Raiders’ circus rolls on…

Fantasy Football Q&A Question of the Week: Week 8

Every week, I’m picking one question from our Fantasy Football Q&A and posting it on Sunday morning. This week’s question comes from RJR, who is wondering if it’s time to cut bait on Terrell Owens.

“Do you think it’s worth dropping TO for any of these WR’s: (Non-PPR) (1 pt/20 return yds) Malcom Floyd, Bobby Wade, Danny Amendola, Chris Henry, Domenik Hixon. Who has more long-term value?”

My answer: No, hold onto TO and hopes he turns it around. HOU doesn’t have a very good pass defense, so there’s a chance he could have a nice week.

It has come to this. Fantasy owners are so frustrated with Owens that they’re actually considering cutting him for the likes of Bobby Wade and Danny Amendola. If you still have Owens on your roster, you might as well hold onto him and see if the Bills can turn their passing game around. Owens is listed as the #40 WR in Footballguys.com’s list of the top WRs going forward, behind guys like Michael Crabtree, Bernard Berrian, Antonio Bryant and Eddie Royal, and ahead of Torry Holt, Lee Evans and Roy Williams. So it all depends on who is available on your waiver wire. Don’t be afraid to cut him for Hakeem Nicks or Donnie Avery, but don’t cut him for Danny Amendola.

NFL Week 7 ROY Power Rankings

Remember the name Jairus Byrd, because he just jumped on this list…and don’t rule out Michael Crabtree, who had a very impressive NFL opening game against Houston last weekend.

1. James Laurinaitis, St. Louis Rams—Four more solo tackles against the Colts last Sunday, so this kid has done nothing to hurt his standing.

2. Jairus Byrd, Buffalo Bills—This safety has been flying under our radar, but he was chosen as the NFL’s defensive rookie of the month for his 15 tackles and (yikes) 5 interceptions in October alone. Wow.

3. Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos—The bye week should have this young stallion rested and ready to face two daunting defenses in the Ravens and Steelers coming up. Can he handle it? Time will tell.

4. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants—Did you see that lucky grab and run for a score Sunday night? Maybe it was more than luck…it was being in the right place at the right time, football instincts that can’t be taught. And along with Byrd, Nicks won NFL offensive rookie honors for October.

5. Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia Eagles—This rookie has become a new favorite target of Donovan McNabb, and had 5 more catches Monday night against Washington.

Honorable mention: Matthew Stafford, Lions; Johnny Knox, Bears; Ryan Succop, Chiefs; Michael Oher, Ravens

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