Matt Schaub was healthy enough Monday night to back up Sage Rosenfels and now looks ready to reclaim his starting job after missing a month with a torn MCL in his knee. As expected Rosenfels put up nice numbers while committing a ton of turnovers in Schaub's absence, producing 961 yards and eight interceptions in four starts against the Ravens, Colts, Browns, and Jaguars.

Rosenfels has racked up 8.2 yards per throw this year to rank tied for third in the league with Drew Brees, but 10 picks in 174 passes make it a relative no-brainer for the Texans to turn back to Schaub. He was playing well before the injury and has no shortage of weapons with Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, Kevin Walter, and Steve Slaton, but Schaub's remaining schedule is very tough.

He'll face the Packers, Titans, and Raiders before finishing up with the Bears, so Schaub rejoins the lineup with three straight matchups against the league's top pass defenses. Between the month off and the unfavorable schedule he doesn't look like more than a solid QB2 option, although Schaub's return may help Andre Johnson after he averaged "only" 78 yards per Rosenfels start.

While the world-famous Sage Rosenfels Experience comes to an end (for now at least), here are some other notes from around football .

* There's no doubt that the Plaxico Burress saga will drag on for a long time, but his season officially came to an end Tuesday when the Giants placed him on the non-football injury list. In doing so the team suspended him four games, perhaps signaling that his time in New York is finished after four seasons, 3,681 yards, 33 touchdowns, one championship, and one thigh with a bullet hole through it.

Not having Burress for the playoffs is obviously a big blow to the Giants' offense, but he hadn't topped 50 yards since Week 6 and backup Domenik Hixon appears capable of thriving with a larger role. A fourth-round pick in 2006 who was cut by the Broncos midway through his sophomore campaign, Hixon came into this year with all of two career catches.

Thrust into the lineup when Burress was suspended for Week 5, Hixon produced 102 yards and a touchdown on four catches before returning to a reserve role for the next half-dozen games. However, over the past two weeks Hixon has totaled 139 yards on 12 touches, and figures to be at least a solid WR3 option down the stretch while starting alongside Amani Toomer.

* Marion Barber is expected to suit up this week despite dislocating his pinkie toe on Thanksgiving, but said Tuesday that he may attempt to stabilize the injury by wearing a protective plate on the bottom of his foot. It's unclear whether that will limit Barber at all and he reportedly was spotted walking with only the slightest of limps Tuesday afternoon, so the bigger issue may be his tough matchup.

Pittsburgh's run defense leads the NFL by allowing just 71.2 yards per game and 3.1 yards per carry, which along with Barber cracking a four-yard average in just two of the past nine games seemingly makes a strong week unlikely. Of course, even if Barber should be downgraded from RB1 to RB2 for Week 14 there's little chance that benching him makes sense as long as he's healthy enough to play.

Two-Minute Drill: Pat Williams and Kevin Williams are slated to file an injunction Wednesday in an effort to avoid the four-game suspensions that were upheld by the league, but barring that Minnesota will have a gaping hole in the middle of its amazing run defense this month . If the "Williams Wall" is indeed suspended for all of December, opposing running backs Kevin Smith, Michael Turner, Brandon Jacobs, and Tim Hightower will each get big value boosts . A big fourth quarter Monday night left Steve Slaton with two scores and a career-high 182 total yards to give him 411 yards and three touchdowns in three games since the Week 10 clunker against the Ravens . The NFL upholding Deuce McAllister's four-game suspension Tuesday clears the path for Pierre Thomas to be the Saints' primary runner while splitting snaps with Reggie Bush for the rest of the season . With his 70th career touchdown Monday night, Fred Taylor moved past Jimmy Smith for the Jaguars team record . Pacman Jones' suspension officially ended when he rejoined the active roster Tuesday, so he'll return punts and play some nickel coverage in Week 14 against the Steelers.

Red Zone: Willie Parker (knee) may not practice much this week, but coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that he "continues to get better" and figures to split snaps with Mewelde Moore against Dallas . New England doesn't figure to make life easy on his fantasy owners with any actual details, but it sounds like Wes Welker has a good shot to play this week after a scary hit knocked him out of Sunday's game . According to coach Marvin Lewis, T.J. Houshmandzadeh is expected to play this week despite sustaining a mild concussion Sunday . Brady Quinn is scheduled to undergo finger surgery Wednesday, and with both Quinn and Derek Anderson (knee) done for the season the Browns brought Bruce Gradkowski in Tuesday to backup Ken Dorsey . Brandon Stokley avoided another concussion in Week 13, but was sporting a black eye Tuesday . Because of Trent Edwards' groin injury, Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the Bills won't decide on their starting quarterback until game time Sunday . Rashean Mathis reportedly suffered a sprained right knee in Monday night's defeat, which would downgrade the Jaguars' pass defense from bad to awful.

Aaron Gleeman is a RotoWorld Senior Baseball Editor and also contributes heavily to football coverage. His work has been featured in Sports Illustrated and he can also be found blogging at AaronGleeman.com.