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The Texans have placed running back Chris Brown on injured reserve, putting the team at the 53-player limit.

Brown, 27, has a herniated disc in his back that is considered a career-threatening injury, according to NFL Network’s Adam Schefter. Brown signed a two-year contact in the offseason with the Texans.

Brown was a third-round pick of the Titans in 2003 and spent five injury-plagued seasons in Tennessee. Brown rushed for a career high 1,067 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2004. He appeared in 12 games and made only one start for the Titans in 2007, rushing for 462 yards with 5 touchdowns.

Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis made it official, announcing during a news conference that two long-time offensive starters –running back Rudi Johnson and left tackle Willie Anderson — have been released.

The Rockets trimmed a second player acquired in the Ron Artest deal, sending Patrick Ewing Jr. to the Knicks, the team for which his father became a Hall of Fame-bound star.

The Rockets will acquire the rights to Frederick Weis, the center controversially drafted one spot ahead of Artest by his hometown team in the 1999 draft but who never played in the NBA. A 7-2 center, he gained a level of notoriety when Vince Carter cleared him on a leap to a dunk in the 2000 Olympics. For the Rockets, the move was made to reduce the roster before part of Ewing’s salary became guaranteed next week.

Ewing Jr., a sixth man at Georgetown last season after his transfer from Indiana to his father’s alma mater, was the 43rd pick of the June draft and was sent to the Rockets along with Artest and Sean Singletary. The Rockets have since traded Singletary to the Suns.

With the move, the Rockets have 14 players under contract and hope to sign Dikembe Mutombo and Carl Landry.

Hours after a rally celebrating the acquisition of Ron Artest on Monday, the Rockets made a far more subtle roster move, sending guard Sean Singletary to the Phoenix Suns for second-year guard D.J. Strawberry.

Singletary, who was chosen with the 42nd pick of the NBA draft in June, had been acquired in the deal for Artest but was not part of the Rockets’ plans. His contract would have become partially guaranteed at the end of the month.

Strawberry, the son of former major leaguer Darryl Strawberry, is considered a strong defensive guard with limited offensive skills. He averaged 2.2 points on 31.5 percent shooting in very limited playing time as a rookie but showed promise in the Las Vegas NBA Summer League as a point guard.

He is expected to be with the Rockets in training camp and in the preseason. His contract is non-guaranteed unless he makes the opening-night roster.

Michael Strahan is staying retired, although his agent said that the seven-time Pro Bowler seriously considered returning to the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

“He was very close to returning, but the great part about Michael is that he takes his time to think about things and he is very thorough,” Tony Agnone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday night. “You can get excited about coming back and running through the tunnel one more time.”

Agnone said that Strahan struggled deciding whether he could give 100 percent mentally.

“In the end, he felt he could not get back to where he was,” Agnone said.

The first report of the news was provided by FoxSports.com, which contacted Strahan in Greece where he was vacationing.

Williams, 26, who would have made the team because he had become an exceptional special-teams player, won’t be able to play again, but he will be able to lead a normal life after he recovers.

“Harry had made this team,” coach Gary Kubiak said after practice Monday. “To go on that field and see him lying there — I just thank the good Lord that he’s going to be fine. I know we’re all disappointed he won’t be able to play, but that’s not what’s most important. I know it’s a very difficult time. He has an amazing mom. He’s got great support. Harry is going to be OK, and that’s what’s important.”

Williams, who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., and played at Tuskegee, was the Jets’ seventh-round pick in 2005. He spent time on practice squads with the Jets and Giants before landing with the Texans in December 2006.

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BEIJING — Unless there is a family of penguins with some big hops and slick moves down there on an ice floe in Antarctica, it would seem that Team USA has reconquered the entire basketball world.

With their 101-81 whipping of Argentina on Friday, the Americans not only avenged their loss to the defending gold medalists from 2004, but they also put a notch for another corner of the planet on their belts.

The U.S. has whipped teams from seven countries and five different continents in a steely-eyed, cold-blooded march back to pre-eminence. All that’s left now to make it official is a rematch in the gold medal game on Sunday with Spain, a team the U.S. spanked by 37 points just a week ago in the opening round.

“Can anybody beat them? I don’t think so,” said Rockets power forward Luis Scola after toiling for 28 points and 11 rebounds in vain. “It’s a lo-o-o-ng shot. I don’t want to say anything too much, then Spain beats them and I look stupid.