FanHouse RyanMoats

Maybe Texans coach Gary Kubiak was just doing the standard NFL coach non-answer thing. When asked yesterday about his team having interest in just-released Chiefs malcontent RB Larry Johnson, Kubiak hemmed and hawed, called Johnson "a good player" and said, "We'll take a look at him." And this might mean nothing, of course. Might mean Kubiak really can't say whether his team is interested, because maybe he doesn't want him but the owner does or vice-versa or something like that. If they do end up pursuing the guy, it won't help negotiations much if the coach is out front saying, "Yeah, we really want him." So Kubiak said basically what he's supposed to say, and reading too much into it is probably a mistake.

But regardless of what's really going on behind the scenes, and regardless of the muddle they have going on right now with Ryan Moats playing on running downs and Steve Slaton playing on passing downs or whatever they're trying to with their running backs, I think the Texans ought to take a pass on Larry Johnson. I think they have too much good stuff going on there right now to bring in his kinds of issues.

This weekend's AFC South showdown appeared, at the beginning of the week, to be one of those strength vs. strength matchups. The Colts have the NFL's seventh-ranked pass defense and they have only allowed three passing touchdowns all season (making them the stingiest in the NFL). The Houston Texans are the NFL's third-best passing team and have thrown 16 touchdown passes in eight games.

Things this week, have, uh, changed a bit.

Am I scared about the prospects of Steve Slaton losing carries to Ryan Moats (and even Chris Brown)? Absolutely. I'm more concerned about the overreactions from across the fantasy football world. Sure, I took it on the chin with Slaton in one league, but last week was hardly indicative of what will transpire from here on out.

Consider the following:
- If Gary Kubiak was going to send a message to his second-year running back with problems holding onto the football, what better opponent than the league's worst run defense?

- Slaton shredded the Colts in Indy last year, and that was without Matt Schaub at the helm to take pressure off him.

- Frank Gore got loose for a 64-yard touchdown against the Colts and added 43 receiving yards. Slaton is faster, more elusive and a better pass-catcher than Gore.

So, yeah, of course last week made me worried about Slaton. But I live by the "no guts, no glory" credo. You'll find Slaton in my top 15. You can have Ryan Moats.

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If you write about the Houston Texans, the No. 1 question you get from fans and fantasy football types is what's up with Steve Slaton? In the last game against the atrocious run defense of the Buffalo Bills, Slaton was benched after only one catch and carry because he fumbled the ball. Yet again. Slaton has a league-high seven fumbles for the year.

Coach Gary Kubiak was up front about the benching, talking about it to Slaton and the team: "I told Steve in the locker room to get his chin up. This team needs him playing well and making plays and I'm expecting him to come right back next week and help us."

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet The ...
Quiet Contenders. With an explosive offense -- last season's third most prolific to be precise -- Houston is a hot topic this season in fantasy terms. Last season, starter Matt Schaub and backup Sage Rosenfels combined for a franchise record in passing offense. Furthermore, rookie running back Steve Slaton proved to be the sleeper of the season.

This year, with an improved defense and a healthy Schaub, the Texans look like real deal contenders. The defense remains the big question mark, but the offense should keep them in contention, and more importantly continue to provide fantasy owners with big-time points.

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Texans running back Ryan Moats and Dallas policeman Robert Powell made national headlines recently when Powell was caught on video stopping Moats for running a red light near a hospital in Dallas, then pulling his gun on Moats while refusing him entry into the hospital to visit his dying mother-in-law.

Powell, after being publicly lambasted, was reassigned to what can best be called the "Favra Shift," rocking out some heavy desk duty for the rest of his life until the public moves on to finger-wagging Donte Stallworth.

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It seems like officer Robert Powell has been busily enforcing the law -- to the extreme, and without discretion, good judgment or common sense -- for some time now. Last week, Powell detained Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats and his wife in a Dallas-area hospital parking lot as they were rushing to be with a dying relative.

At this point, you have probably seen the disturbing video of Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats being delayed from seeing his dying relative. At first, it seemed like everyone was shocked about Dallas police officer Robert Powell's behavior, except the officer himself.

Initial media reports indicated that Powell told his supervisors that he did nothing wrong during his traffic stop of Moats and his family outside of a Dallas emergency room. Powell's lawyer claims that those reports aren't true, and Powell has issued an apology (in part).

If there is one thing the Ryan Moats incident reminded us of, it is that meetings between men of color and men of the law are generally of dramatically different tenors. Dismiss that if you want. Charge that those of us of color are just paranoid. But you'd be hard-pressed to find a black man in this country who hasn't been treated -- and I use the word loosely -- by the law as Moats was despite his quite honest and understandable protest.

A recent series on race in America by The Chicago Tribune quoted Reggie Shuford, a senior attorney with the racial justice program at the American Civil Liberties Union: "All the anecdotal information demonstrates that African Americans are the most frequent victims of zealous, inappropriate police activity that often winds up in a shooting. It's a shoot first, ask questions later approach to policing."

The Ryan Moats police encounter has stirred up an unimaginable amount of controversy, and with good reason. Moats, a running back with the Houston Texans, and his wife Tamishia Moats were pulled over by Dallas police offer Robert Powell in the parking lot of a hospital after running a red light.

The Moats were on their way to be with Tamishia's dying mother, and, despite their pleas to the officer, were delayed from entering the hospital for almost 15 minutes while Powell pulled his gun, threatened to take Moats to jail and tow his car, and warned "I can screw you over." Eventually, Powell told Moats to "shut your mouth," as Moats and his wife desperately tried to explain the seriousness of the situation.

You can hear all of this in the two videos after the jump.