Texans morning huddle: Depth chart vs. Bengals

The Houston Texans are getting closer to their first Monday Night Football game of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals. To get ready for the game the ‘morning huddle’ has all the news you need to know. Enjoy;

Texans release unofficial depth chart for Cincinnati game – HoustonTexans.com

"The Texans are coming off of their bye week after defeating the Tennessee Titans, 20-6, in Week 8. Houston tied a franchise record with 7.0 sacks in the game, led by a career-high 3.5 from OLB Whitney Mercilus and 2.5 from DE J.J. Watt. With 65.5 career sacks, Watt passed DeMarcus Ware (64.5) for the third-most sacks in a player’s first five seasons in NFL history and set a single-game career-high with 10 quarterback hits against the Titans.Offensively, QB Brian Hoyer set a franchise record with his fifth straight game with two-or-more touchdown passes. WR DeAndre Hopkins finished the contest with eight receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown and passed Andre Johnson (2,806) for the most receiving yards in a player’s first three seasons in team history."

Breakfast: ‘How to’ fix the run game – by Drew Dougherty, HoustonTexans.com

"The Texans are 29th in the NFL with 87.9 rushing yards per game. For O’Brien, much of the fix will go into the physical part: the Texans practiced in pads once last week, and will do so again this week. He said “a lot” of that padded practice was devoted to the run game.“We’ll be in a full-padded practice on Wednesday and get it going and really practice the run game there,” O’Brien said. “But we’re going to work one day at a time, like I said, and try to improve every day.”"

Andrew Luck’s injury won’t change much for the Texans in the AFC South – by Tania Ganguli, ESPN

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"Under normal circumstances, a division leader losing its starting quarterback might have a dramatic impact on the fate of that division. In this case, it really won’t.The truth is, Luck has struggled this season, in large part because of his health. The Texans’ overall quarterback play has actually been the best in the AFC South, as difficult as that might be for people to imagine given Houston’s turmoil at the position. Because of Luck’s first-half struggles, the drop-off to backup Matt Hasselbeck won’t be as dramatic."

Texans backup quarterback T.J. Yates had Bengals’ number as a rookie starter – by Aaron Wilson, Houston Chronicle

"When Yates was a rookie and making his second NFL start for the Texans in 2011, he completed 26 of 44 passes for 300 yards, two touchdowns and one interception against the Bengals. That clinched a playoff berth for the Texans for the first time in franchise history and earned Yates NFL Offensive Rookie of the Week honors."