Texans Hopeful About Foster Injury

Added on Aug 29, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

The Houston Texans are counting on 2010′s leading rusher Arian Foster as they head into the 2011 regular season. For now, however, they’re just giving him ‘get well soon’ wishes. Foster tweaked his hamstring in Saturday’s preseason game against San Francisco and is listed as ‘day to day’.

Foster sat out the Texans’ first preseason game after injuring his hamstring early in training camp. He looked much better in preseason week 2 against New Orleans, gaining 47 yards on five rushes and scoring two touchdowns. He re-aggravated the hamstring early in the Texans’ 30-7 win over the 49ers.

For now, Gary Kubiak is trying to remain positive:

“Looks like we’re dealing with the same thing we were dealing with at the start of camp. Hopefully, we can get him back on the rehab train, and get him ready for opening day. He’ll be day to day.”

Asked if there was a sense of concern about the injury, Kubiak opined:

“Until he hops back out there, there’s a concern. But it sounds like we’re heading in the right direction.”

Foster is not the only injury concerning the Texans at the moment. All pro linebacker DeMeco Ryans didn’t travel with the team to California though Kubiak said he’d return to practice on Monday. Ryans is nursing a minor elbow injury.

The Texans’ defense has been a serious liability in recent years but has shown marked improvement during the preseason. Much of the credit has gone to new defensive coordinator (and former Dallas Cowboys’ head coach) Wade Phillips. Kubiak has been quick to give Phillips credit, but is also impressed with the improved energy from the entire unit:

“It’s not like it’s one guy having a great preseason. It’s collectively, as a group, all making plays, just bouncing around.”

Another reason for this could be the crowded depth chart and intense competition for roster spots on the defense–particularly in the secondary:

“That’s the place in camp we’ve held up very good health-wise. From a numbers standpoint, we’re very heavy at that position and have been throughout camp. If they’re all standing on Friday morning, a lot of good football players, so we’ve got to weed through that. You can only keep so many.”

The Texans will host the Indianapolis Colts in their first regular season game. The game has been on and off the NFL betting board due to injuries to both Foster and Indy QB Peyton Manning.