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Favre looks healthy

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 an injured rib, and the Minnesota Vikings beat the Houston Texans, 17-10, in a preseason game Monday night.

In his second game since unretiring less than two weeks ago, Favre was 13 of 18 for 142 yards. He didn’t move the offense much following Peterson’s touchdown until a 28-yard catch and run by Chester Taylor just before halftime.

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 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.

Peterson scored on a 75-yard run when he sliced through Houston’s defense virtually untouched. He finished with 117 yards rushing.

Cassel’s injury a mystery

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.

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.

Stafford No. 1 by default

For one day, there was no question that Matt Stafford was the Detroit Lions’ first-string quarterback.

Injuries to both Daunte Culpepper (foot) and Drew Stanton (knee) meant Stafford was Detroit’s only healthy quarterback at Monday’s practice.

-- Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt is so upset with his starters he might play them longer than usual in the Cardinals’ final preseason game Thursday night in Denver. “It depends on whether my anger subsides by Thursday, to be honest with you,” Whisenhunt said.

The Cardinals watched film Monday of their 44-37 loss to Green Bay, then worked out for two hours in temperatures that reached 106 degrees.

Arizona’s starters fell behind 38-10 at halftime against the Packers Saturday night as Aaron Rodgers shredded the Cardinals defense for 258 yards passing and three touchdowns. Green Bay had 357 yards by halftime.

-- Two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora missed practice Monday without giving New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin an explanation. Umenyiora, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, attended meetings in the morning at the team’s headquarters. However, he left unexpectedly without talking to Coughlin and didn’t return for the workout.

-- Quarterback Kevin O’Connell, projected to be Tom Brady’s backup, was cut Monday by the New England Patriots. O’Connell’s release came three days after Brady sustained what the Patriots described as a sore shoulder in a 27-24 exhibition win over the Washington Redskins.