No Marching In
Arian Foster out again: Injury drags down fantasy No. 1, turns Ben Tate into astar on the move
NEW ORLEANS — Remember that "minor" injury Arian Foster suffered on his eighth carry of the first quarter against the San Francisco 49ers in a preseason game?
Well, it's causing a major shift in the Houston Texans' backfield and turning fantasy football nuts apoplectic. As expected, Foster is out for another game due to his hamstring woes. With the Texans making the NFL's reigning leading rusher inactive for Sunday afternoon's showdown with New Orleans — a smart move considering how Foster looked when he rushed back last week against Miami — one of the most explosive players in the NFL (and everyone's fantasy No. 1) will have been a non-factor for the first three games of the 2011 season.
With tailback Derrick Ward also out, the focus and the pressure continues to stay on second-year tailback Ben Tate. Tate seems remarkably unaffected though, having run for more than 100 yards in each of his first two career NFL games. If he racks up 100 yards against the Saints he'll become the second back in NFL history to reach that figure in the first three games of his career.
Of course, Tate would be joining the hardly immortal Carnell Williams on that list.
In much more promising injury news for the Texans, cornerback Johnathan Joseph, who made big plays on a bad ankle in Miami last week and is a much more irreplaceable player for Houston, started against the Saints.