Texans running back Arian Foster, the NFL’s rushing leader in 2010, missed Week One with a hamstring injury. He practiced on Wednesday, and he said after practice that he plans to play on Sunday at Miami.
“It felt good,” Foster said, via quotes distributed by the team. “It was pretty fluid, but you got to ease along hamstring injuries, like I’ve been saying, so I’m just going to take it day-by-day and see how it feels.”
On playing, Foster said, “That’s the plan, but you never know with hamstring injuries. They’re tricky. Sometimes they’ll sneak up on you.”
And that’s the reality as Foster continues to practice and/or play. Unless it’s fully and completely healed, the hamstring can go again. Just like it did during the preseason after Foster suffered the original injury early in training camp.
That’s why it makes sense not to use Foster unless and until the hamstring is fully healed. As of two weeks ago, an ESPN doctor interpreted Foster’s Twitter-posted MRI as revealing an injury that would cause him to miss multiple regular-season games.
If/when Foster can play, coach Gary Kubiak will have to decide how much to use Foster and Ben Tate, who rushed for 116 yards in his NFL debut against the Colts. Appearing on Tuesday’s PFT Live, Tate said that he’ll take whatever he gets, although he acknowledged that some running backs get better as the game goes along if they’re getting the bulk of the carries.