Who Should I Start? Drew Sample or Cade Stover

Sunday, January 5, 7:40 AM

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Drew Sample caught all four of his targets for 14 yards on Saturday in his team's 19-17 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Though the yardage total wasn't anything to write home about, the veteran tight end tied a season high in catches. More importantly, Cincinnati's offense did just enough to earn a fifth straight victory that kept its playoff hopes alive for another day. Whether Sample and the Bengals get a shot in the Wild Card round will come down to Week 18, when Cincy needs both Denver and Miami to lose.

Tuesday, January 14, 4:42 PM

Houston Texans rookie tight end Cade Stover (collarbone) suffered a broken collarbone in the wild-card win over the Los Angeles Chargers last Saturday and will require season-ending surgery. The Texans officially placed Stover on Injured Reserve on Tuesday. The 24-year-old first-year player caught all four of his targets for 28 yards in the 32-12 win over the Bolts and played 36 offensive snaps. Stover was mostly a blocker for the Texans in his first year in the NFL and took a back seat pass-catching-wise to starter Dalton Schultz, as he had only 15 catches for 133 yards and one touchdown on 22 targets over 15 regular-season games. If Teagan Quitoriano (calf) isn't activated from IR to play this Saturday in the Divisional Round against the hosting Kansas City Chiefs, Irv Smith Jr. would operate as the primary backup to Schultz.