The Houston Texans made moves in this weeks ESPN Power Rankings without even playing. The Texans benefited from the loss by the New York Giants and moved from No. 9 in last weeks' rankings to No. 8 this week.
Houston also benefited this week because fellow AFC South members, the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars both lost their games, which gave Houston a two-game lead in the division. The Texans now sit at 7-3 on the season, while the Titans fall to at 5-5 after Sunday's loss to the Falcons. Andre Johnson will be returning to the lineup this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars and that should help new-starting quarterback Matt Leinart, who is filling in for the injured Matt Schaub.
The Texans have six games remaining on their schedule and only two of those games are against teams that currently have winning records, the Atlanta Falcons (6-4) on December 4th, and the Cincinnati Bengals (6-4) on December 11th.
The Titans fall to No. 16 in this weeks power rankings, while the Jaguars fell to No. 28 and the Colts hold down the last spot again this week at No. 32.
For more news and coverage on the Texans visit SB Nation's Battle Red Blog.