The Facts: The Texans have lost running back Arian Foster for the near future as he gets set for groin surgery. Exactly how long he'll be gone, we don't know yet, but his absence will last into the regular season. That will call into focus the Texans' other running backs, namely Alfred Blue, Chris Polk and Jonathan Grimes. Blue took over in practice Wednesday in Foster's absence. As things stand right now, he's the Texans' starter.
Diehards Line:
As ESPN.com's Tania Ganguli notes, most observers view Blue as mostly a first- and second-down back, but he's been working on being more versatile. A few months ago, Foster said he was working to turn Blue into a three-down back. HC Bill O'Brien agreed that Blue's running has improved and he also noted improvement in blocking and blitz pickups. "Blue can play on third down in certain third-down situations, no doubt about it," O'Brien said. ... Meanwhile, Polk has been sidelined with a hamstring injury for the past few days, but Ganguli reports he'll definitely be in the mix to help there once healthy. Polk is a powerful back who had a good game against the Texans last season when the Eagles visited Houston. He's also a good returner, something the Texans are trying to sort out. O'Brien also singled out Grimes as having had a strong day of practice Monday night and said he wasn't limited to being just a third-down back. ... The question now is whether the current group can show enough to keep the Texans from adding a veteran free agent after their first attempt to do so (Pierre Thomas) came up short.