Ben Tate’s fast start to the season has earned him a promotion, at least for now.
If Sunday’s game wasn’t proof enough, coach Gary Kubiak confirmed that Tate will take more of the workload in the coming weeks rather than Arian Foster. Tate has 219 yards in two weeks.
“[Tate is] playing really well,” Kubiak said in comments distributed by the team. “As we work Arian back into what we’re doing and get him back to full speed, Ben’s going to probably carry most of the load right now as we work forward with Arian.”
This is what’s called a good problem. It remains to be seen whether the Texans will rest Foster until he’s truly 100%, but Kubiak didn’t suggest that would happen.
The Texans traditionally don’t use a running back committee. Instead, they may just use Tate and Foster as lead backs at different points in the season. That’s disappointing for Foster’s fantasy owners, but a nice luxury to have for Houston.