Injury Report: Arian Foster Listed as Day-to-Day

Arian Foster, the Houston Texans running back and leagues leading rusher a season ago, was listed as day-to-day in the first injury report released by the Texans.

Foster's hamstring has been the subject of great debate since he re-injured it in the third preseason game of 2011.  Foster was at practice, but he did not participate. According to Nick Scurfield, the Texan's blogger, Foster ran on his own and was in good spirits.

"No, I was cutting. I was running and cutting, frolicking," Foster said. Hopefully, Foster was showing promise of his game changing speed and agility, as well as his trademark charisma.  Foster did admit that he was not going full speed, but that was somewhat suspected, and may not be an indication as to whether he will be available for the opener.

The debate if Foster should start or not will rage on past the kickoff of the Texans' opener against the Colts, and until Foster shows that he has made it back to being 100 percent healthy. This is a tricky situation because hamstrings always react differently for everyone and can even be inconsistent from injury to injury for the same person. 

With Peyton Manning being out for the first week for sure—and possibly longer—it would seem to be prudent to make sure that Foster is 100 percent healthy. It wouldn't be risking further injury, which is important when the Texans face elite teams like the Saints, Steelers and Ravens. The Texans will definitely need to have Foster at full speed in those games, whereas they should be able to get by with their back ups while facing the Colts 25th ranked rush defense.