The injury that knocked out the Texans' leading tackler, Zac Diles, was freakish indeed. Diles was running downfield on a punt coverage drill yesterday when his left leg snapped. There was no contact involved. The repair to repair the break to the tibia requires a rod and Diles is obviously out for the season.

Players said they actually heard the break when it happened.

Diles had 66 tackles, 47 of them unassisted playing at left outside linebacker. He is going to be replaced by Kevin Bentley, a veteran who doubles as both an inside and outside backer in Houston's 4-3 alignment.

In an article in the Houston Chronicle, coach Gary Kubiak said:

“It was a half-drill, a freak accident, but we all heard it. It was obvious something bad had happened when he hit the ground.

“It’s very unfortunate. We lost a kid who was becoming a great player. He’s as good a player as we have on defense. I feel so disappointed for him because he was making so much progress and playing so well.”

Diles' injury comes on top of a knee injury to starting quarterback Matt Schaub who was hurt Sunday against Minnesota. He is replaced by Sage Rosenfels and the drop-off there is not too great. In fact, some may argue that the Texans have played better with Rosenfels than Schaub.

Rosenfels was 21-of-29 for 224 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in trying to rally the Texans from a 21-point deficit. Houston fell short, 28-21. In two games this season, Rosenfels is 42-for-62 for 470 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Last year playing fairly frequently for Schaub, who was in and out of the lineup with assorted physical problems, Rosenfels was 154-for-240 for 1,684 yards, 15 TDs and 12 interceptions.