Now coach Gary Kubiak is faced with a decision to bench Slaton or not, and Fox Sports reports that it looks like Moats could get a chance to carry the load for Houston.

Steve Slaton became a key to Houston’s offense as a rookie last year when he ran for a franchise-record 1,282 yards. This season he’s tied for the NFL lead in lost fumbles with five and his job as a starter is in jeopardy after Ryan Moats had a huge day filling in for him. Moats, a career backup, ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns after Slaton was benched in the first quarter of Houston’s 31-10 win over the Bills. “They know they’re all going to play and they know they’re all going to be a part of what we’re doing, so I just think we keep working them,” Kubiak said. “Obviously, Ryan earned some time on the football field the way he played. But we’ve got to get all three of them ready to play.”

“O.D. tore his ACL,” coach Kubiak said today. “I visited here with him about an hour ago, before he left. They’re going to let the swelling go down over the course of the next 10-12 days and then schedule surgery, so surgery will probably be in about two weeks.

“Obviously, he’s done for the season and [that's] a big blow to our football team. I just feel bad for him. Boy, he was having a tremendous season — a special football season and we’re going to miss him big time. He’ll get well. He’ll be back. He’s a worker. He’ll be back better than ever.”

Daniels this season had 40 catches for 519 yards and five touchdowns. He was the teams biggest target outside of Andre Johnson, and he will be missed by Matt Schaub and the teams offense.

No decision on who will start at running back yet for the Texans. Head coach Gary Kubiak said all three backs will play. Ryan Moats is hot right now although Steve Slaton is the big play guy but his fumbles haven’t helped moving himself up the ladder.

He was the first player in franchise player to score three TD’s in a game. “I wasn’t thinking about that,” Moats said, referring to setting personal and team records. “I was thinking about the time that I would get and try to do the best that I could.”

The game turned when Slaton was shown the bench, and the steady hands of Moats entered the game. Gary Kubiak didn’t say after the game if Slaton had lost his starting job or not. What he did talk about was the loss of star tight end Owen Daniels, who was lost for the season with a knee injury. “It doesn’t look good,” he said.

The Texans though did enough to get a big win to move to 5-3 on the season. They took advantage of a great day on defense where they held Buffalo to just 204 yards on offense, and three second half first downs. “It was easy,” LB DeMeco Ryans said. “They kind of had the same formations, they didn’t give us a lot of motions and things. So it was a simple offense to go against.”

It wasn’t that easy on the scoreboard for awhile, as Terrell Owens put the Bills up 7-0 on a WR reverse in the first quarter. While the Texans were able to move the ball, they had to settle for three Kris Brown field goals to cut the deficit to 7-6 in the second quarter, then after a Bills field goal it was 10-6 Buffalo at the half.

The Texans got another field goal from Brown in the third quarter to make it 10-9, then finally went nuts on offense in the fourth. It started with a Moats 11-yard run to make it 17-10 after a two-point conversion to Andre Johnson. Later on in the quarter Moats went in from a yard out to make it 24-10, then a final three-yard TD from Moats with 3:34 left put the finishing touches on the win at 31-10.

The offense piled up 439 yards and 24 first downs in the win. Matt Schaub went 25-for-34 for 268 yards with two picks. Johnson had 6 grabs for 63 yards. The Texans defense laid a beating on the Bills, wrapping it up with a big showing in the second half. “We were really focusing for four quarters,” Brian Cushing said. “We were in a dogfight that first half, but we played through adversity by being smart and disciplined.”

Early on at Reliant Stadium, where the Houston Texans hosted the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, it appeared that their game would be a rout. Steve Slaton had his running legs back and Matt Schaub was exacting damage to the 49ers’ secondary – all of this in the first half. But after replacing starting quarterback Shaun Hill with Alex Smith, the 49ers nearly pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat, with Houston squeaking by San Francisco 24-21.

Things were clicking for Houston early on as they drew first blood on a Steve Slaton 1-yard rushing touchdown, making it 7-0; the second quarter would be more productive as Houston hit paydirt twice – once on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Matt Schaub to Steve Slaton and a 42-yard TD pass from Schaub to tight end Owen Daniels – increasing the Texans’ lead to 21-0. But that wouldn’t last for very long going nito the second half as San Francisco brought in Smith to open the third quarter.

The 49ers would finally get on the scoreboard, courtesy of a 29-yard Smith-to-tight end Vernon Davis tocuhdown pass, narrowing their deficit to 18. The 49ers would find the end zone again, this time early in the fourth quarter as Smith and Davis connected again – this time on a 14-yard TD strike – narrowing the gap to 21-14.

After a Kris Brown 50-yard field goal which padded Houston’s lead to 24-14, San Francisco would strike again 3 and 1/2 minutes later as Smith and Davis hooked up for another score- this time a 23-yard TD pass – which would put the 49ers down by only 3. But a late rally by Smith ended prematurely as he was intercepted by Texans safety Eugene Wilson.

Schaub had a decent game as he went 20-of-30 for 264 yards and a pair of TD passes; Hill stunk, going 6-of-11 for 45 yards while Smith was markedly better, going 15-of-22 for 206 yards with 3 TD’s and an interception. Slaton led the Texans rushing attack with 67 yards and a rushing score while Frank Gore led the 49ers with 32 yards on 13 carries.

Daniels led all Houston receivers with 7 receptions for 123 yards and a score while Andre Johnson caught a pair for 62 yards. Vernon Davis was the receiving target of choice for San Francisco as he caught 7 passes for 93 yards and 3 TD’s while newly-signed Michael Crabtree made a good impression for a player with little practice time, catching 5 passes for 56 yards; Josh Morgan caught 4 passes for 62 yards.

The Texans took a big hit as Johnson suffered what appeared to be a chest injury early in the foruth quarter and did not return. The 49ers will have some thinking to do as they go into next week deciding whether to continue starting Hill or go with the hot hand with Smith at QB. Houston (4-3) hope to continue their winning ways as they travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills next Sunday while San Francisco (3-3) travels to Indianapolis to take on the undefeated Colts – also next Sunday.