If there were any doubts about Arian Foster's health following his back surgery, he laid them to rest in the Texans' season opener.
"He did a good job," head coach Bill O'Brien said after the game. "He got some really tough yards. It's hard to run the ball against Jim Haslett's defense with those players there. Their defensive line and their linebackers, (Brian) Orakpo and (Ryan) Kerrigan, I mean it's hard to run the football there. I thought Arian got every inch that he could out of the running game and he meant a lot to our team today."
Foster took on a hefty workload, carrying the ball 27 times for 103 yards in Houston's 17-6 win over Washington. It was the first time he saw action since November 3, 2013. Foster was limited in his training camp reps and did not play a single preseason game heading into this season.
"It was tough sledding out there today," Foster said. "It was one of those games where they were stacking the box and it was hard to get yards, but I felt good. The cohesiveness of our unit is going to start showing after a while. This is the first time we've been out there as an offensive unit together, so I'm pretty proud of what we did."
Foster, who said he had some rust to knock off, fumbled early in the fourth quarter deep in Washington territory. For him, it was important to shake it off and not let it affect the rest of his game.
"I've been playing football for a long time and I remember Marcus Allen said, 'If you haven't fumbled, you haven't carried it,' so I mean, it's part of the game," Foster said. "You don't want it to happen and it's one of those things you can't control, but it's one of those things where you have to have a short-term memory in this league, so it's just on to the next one."
Foster recorded the 26th 100-yard rushing game of his career. He's led the NFL in 100-yard rushing performances since 2010. As for whether or not, he can continue to have games where he amasses 27-plus carries, Foster's answer was simple.
"Yeah," he said.
