Steve Slaton has been nominated for NFL Rookie of the Week honors for the fifth time this season after shining in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football. He gained a game-high 130 rushing yards with two touchdowns, along with 52 receiving yards on two catches, in the Texans' 30-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Reliant Stadium.
Voting for NFL Rookie of the Week ends Friday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. CT, and the winner will be announced Friday evening on NFL.com.
Slaton (5-9, 201) most recently was nominated for NFL Rookie of the Week after totaling a rookie-record 156 rushing yards on 14 carries (11.1 avg.) with a franchise-long 71-yard touchdown run in the team's 33-27 loss at Indianapolis on Nov. 16.
The third-round draft pick (89th overall) won NFLPLAYERS.COM’s Rookie of the Week award this year after the Texans' first meeting with the Colts at Reliant Stadium on Oct. 5. After gaining 93 yards on 16 carries (5.8 avg.) with two touchdowns in the 31-27 loss, Slaton was nominated for NFL Rookie of the Week honors for the third time.
Slaton's second nomination for NFL Rookie of the Week came after the Week 4 game at Jacksonville. In the 30-27 overtime loss, he totaled 83 receiving yards on eight catches with one touchdown and carried the ball 10 times for 33 yards.
{QUOTE}He first was nominated for NFL Rookie of the Week honors after his first-career start at Tennessee in Week 3, when he had 116 rushing yards with his first career touchdown.
Among all rookie running backs, Slaton ranks third in rushing yards (904) behind Chicago's Matt Forte (1,012) and Tennessee's Chris Johnson (958). But Slaton ranks first in yards per carry (5.0) among all rookie running backs with more than 100 carries, and he ranks second in the NFL behind New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs.
Coach Gary Kubiak continues to marvel at the play of his sensational rookie.
"He's really growing up," Kubiak said after the game. "At halftime, I didn't run the ball enough in the first half, to be honest with you. We got a little out of whack play-call wise, and the kid came up to me at halftime, here's a rookie, grabs me by the shirt to say, 'I'm OK. Give me the ball.' He reminds me of (Washington Redskins running back Clinton) Portis, personality-wise, that I coached for years. He's got a great personality. Nothing is too big for him. To watch him get stronger at the end of the game was very impressive."
