Even though the Houston Texans did not have to break a sweat over the weekend on their bye week, head coach Gary Kubiak and the team confirmed on Monday that tailback Ben Tate's hamstring injury remains a serious concern.
Tate suffered the injury in a Week 7 win over the Baltimore Ravens, and was first listed as having a strained hamstring entering the bye week. After he was completely held out of Monday's practice, it has now become clear that Tate's injury is much more serious than initially thought. Third-string runner Justin Forsett will be elevated on the depth chart in the meantime to spell Arian Foster, as a viable question mark now arises regarding Tate's timetable.
In addition to Tate, Texans defensive lineman Shaun Cody was also held out of Monday's practice, according to the team's official Twitter feed. Cody has been dealing with a back problem over the last few weeks, but has yet to miss a game due to injury so far in 2012.
Kubiak: We need Tate, very important to our success as a football team. He's "going to miss some time here".
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) October 29, 2012