Star running back Arian Foster admitted his frustration with his role in the Houston Texans’ opener against San Diego this past Monday. In case you missed it, the Texans gave nine carries to backup rusher Ben Tate while Foster looked none too pleased on the bench. It probably wasn’t so much the carries that hurt Foster, rather, the times that he got some of them.
With the game tied 28-28 in the fourth quarter, it was Tate, not Foster, who got the call with about nine minutes left in the game. Tate received a couple of carries on a drive that eventually stalled.
Foster, while admitting frustration, handled the situation far better than Dolphins receiver Mike Wallace (who angrily stormed off ignoring reporters after having a smaller role in Miami’s first game – even after his team won):
“That has to be OK with me,” Foster said. “Like I said, we’re chess pieces. Coach makes the final ruling. But as a competitor, I’ve been in this league, I felt that I’ve played well throughout my tenure here. You want to be out there. You feel like you’ve earned that right to be out there. That’s just where the frustration comes from.” (ESPN)
This will be something to track the rest of the way, obviously. For the record, Foster had 18 carries to Tate’s nine. However, the fact that Tate was an option with the game on the line is more than interesting. As if that weren’t enough, head coach Gary Kubiak also recently suggested that he wanted the number of carries to be even more equitable – meaning more for Tate.
If Foster plays his game and is effective, he won’t have to worry about Tate. If he struggles as he did in the opener (only 57 yards on 18 carries), though, Tate could be breathing down his neck for more playing time.
