The Houston Texans underwent more changes in the past few days than they were hoping to. After getting blown out in Week 7 by the Miami Dolphins, the Texans lost their top running back for the season and released their one-time starting quarterback. As Bill O'Brien proves he is not messing around with the struggles of the team, he does not plan on fixing the issues with roster additions or trades.
The Texans announced they officially lost Arian Foster for the season due to an Achilles injury. While the team has taken a look at Pierre Thomas and Montee Ball in the past, they have no plans to bring back the running backs again. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Texans will replace Foster from within. Alfred Blue, Chris Polk, Jonathan Grimes and Kenny Hilliard will represent a running-back-by-committee approach for the Texans. The team will not make any trades or additions.
Rapoport writes that the Texans are more likely to evenly rotate the running backs rather than having one workhorse for the team. Blue will be interested as the starter, but Polk is expected to see a lot of playing time as he is the better running back on film. Polk also got more experience over the past few weeks while Blue dealt with a toe injury.
The run game will be important for Brian Hoyer who is now the real man in charge for the Texans. Houston announced via ESPN that Ryan Mallett was officially released after he missed the team flight to South Beach for Week 7. The quarterback has dropped every chance he has been given with the team and the Texans had no other choice but to let him go.
Now that Hoyer is back as the main quarterback, Houston must find a way to get the ball moving better. Cecil Shorts is expected to be back for Week 8 play along with Nate Washington as they both have dealt with injuries. Jaelen Strong must step up after getting just one target thrown his way following a two-touchdown debut in the NFL. According to O'Brien, the Texans are not making changes within their coaching staff and the team simply just needs to start playing better.
"Any coach worth his salt is not a finger pointer," O'Brien said, via ESPN.com. "To me, you're pointing that finger at that guy in the mirror and you've got to figure out what you can do to improve the football team, because that's your job, that's coaching. Coaching is getting guys to improve, getting guys to play the game the way that you see the game should be played in all three phases."