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Week 11 NFL Power Rankings: Houston Texans Are A Top 5 Team ... For Now

With Matt Schaub out indefinitely, it's Matt Leinart's time to shine in Houston.

After taking a decent Tampa Bay Buccaneers team to the woodshed with a 37-9 beating Sunday, the Houston Texans should be resting on their laurels and enjoying their bye week.

But with news that Pro Bowl QB Matt Schaub might be out for the rest of the year, a once promising season that had the Texans in the race for the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC is suddenly in jeopardy.

Houston has weathered injuries to RB Arian Foster, WR Andre Johnson and DE Mario Williams to stay in the top five of SBNation's latest NFL Power Rankings, now they'll have to survive one more:

4. Houston Texans (7-3, LW: 5): Unfortunately, I'm not sure if Houston will stay in the top five following Matt Schaub's possible season-ending injury.

There are certainly worse backup QB's in the NFL than Matt Leinart. Now the former USC star and first-round flop has a golden opportunity to resurrect his career in Schaub's absence.

He hasn't thrown a pass in two years in Houston, but in four in Arizona, he completed 57.1% of his passes for 3,893 yards with 20 TD's and 29 INT's. 

However, the Cardinals never gave him much of a chance to develop, as they had a Super Bowl contending team and a steady veteran QB in Kurt Warner. Leinart started 12 games as a rookie, but played behind Warner in his next three years in Arizona.

The Texans, with a dominant ground game and a defense getting stronger every week in new coordinator's Wade Phillips scheme, won't ask Leinart to win games for them one. They're just going to have to hope he doesn't lose games for them either.

The only other QB on the roster is former UNC signal-caller T.J. Yates, who Houston selected in the fifth round of this year's draft.

For the latest news and notes on the Texans, Houston fans should check out Battle Red Blog.

Images by eflon used in background images under a Creative Commons license. Thank you.