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HOUSTON — Brett Favre’s ribs appear to be just fine.
He took plenty of hits and even delivered one.
Adrian Peterson scored on the game’s first play, Favre played three quarters despite saying he might have a cracked rib, and the Minnesota Vikings beat the Houston Texans 17-10 in a preseason game Monday night.
Favre told ESPN before the game that he thinks he has a cracked rib, but the 39-year-old didn’t look to be in pain while getting sacked twice and taking numerous other hits.
He drew a penalty for an illegal crackback block to the knee of Houston’s Eugene Wilson when he lined up wide in the wildcat formation in the third quarter. Wilson was injured on the play.
In his second game since unretiring less than two weeks ago, Favre was 13 of 18 for 142 yards.
EAGLES
PHILADELPHIA — Kevin Kolb is getting a start at quarterback in the Eagles’ final preseason game.
On his weekly radio show Monday evening, Eagles coach Andy Reid said Kolb will start Thursday’s game against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands and Michael Vick will play in the first half.
Vick will start the second half at quarterback, Reid said.
Quarterback Donovan McNabb, running back Brian Westbrook and many of Philadelphia’s starters will not play.
In last week’s victory over Jacksonville, Vick played six snaps. He went 4 for 4 for 19 yards and rushed once for a yard.
Vick participated in the first four Eagles drives, which netted only 3 points. Philadelphia went three-and-out on the others.
SAINTS
METAIRIE, La. — Rod Coleman’s NFL comeback bid is on hold.
The 10-year veteran defensive lineman was among three cuts made by the New Orleans Saints on Monday as the club trimmed its roster to 75, the maximum for the final week of the preseason.
The Saints also waived cornerback Greg Fassitt and receiver D’Juan Woods, who both had been injured recently. Fassitt hurt his hamstring during Saturday’s exhibition game at Oakland, while Woods missed the last two preseason games with a neck injury.
The 33-year-old Coleman is a former Pro Bowl defensive tackle who played with the Oakland Raiders and Atlanta Falcons earlier in his career. He spent 2008 out of football, but signed with New Orleans in March.
CHIEFS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Brodie Croyle kept getting hurt and Tyler Thigpen seemed ill-suited for an NFL offense, so the Kansas City Chiefs traded for Matt Cassel and gave him a guaranteed $28 million contract before the first snap.
Now Cassel is hurt, Croyle is healthy and Thigpen is probably still ill-suited. But either he or Croyle could start against the tough defense of the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 13 in the season opener.
Cassel injured his knee in Saturday night’s preseason loss to Seattle and the Chiefs may be down to Croyle and Thigpen, who between them are 1-18 as NFL starters.
The decision will be up to head coach Todd Haley, who stirred his team’s murky waters even further on Monday by firing Chan Gailey as offensive coordinator and assuming the role himself, just 13 days before opening his first season as a head coach.
“It’s almost unheard of that you have something like that happen right now,” Thigpen said. “We’ve got to take responsibility.”
Haley refused to breathe a word about the status of Cassel or any of his other injured starters. But Yahoo! Sports, citing a source in the organization, reported he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and could miss two to four weeks.
The players indicated they had no inkling how long Cassel might be gone.
“It’s unfortunate for Matt,” Croyle said. “Who knows the timetable when he’ll be back? If it comes time to go, I’ll just have to be ready.”