The Texans returned to practice on Thursday after a two-day break in advance of their Monday Night Football game at the New York Jets.
Starting right guard Antoine Caldwell, who sprained his ankle in Week 4, practiced on a limited basis. Running back Ben Tate did not practice because of a toe injury. The Texans will hold Tate out until Saturday, preparing Justin Forsett as the backup to Arian Foster in case Tate is unable to go in Week 5.
"I think if we asked Ben to do something today, he would've done it," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "We are going to get Justin ready to go. Then, I think what we do Saturday is we let Ben go and if he looks fine, then we're back to our normal deal. I think the key is that Justin gets the reps because Ben is ready to play. He knows what he's doing. That's kind of the way we practiced today. We'll see where Ben is at on Saturday."
Caldwell looked like he might be out for at least a couple weeks after leaving the Texans' game against the Tennessee Titans in the second quarter. He has been rotating with rookie Ben Jones in the last three games.
"He's got a pretty good ankle, but he's a tough guy," Kubiak said. "We pushed him through it. He practiced today, but we're also kind of keeping an eye on him, seeing exactly where he's going to be come Monday night."
Safety Quintin Demps is out this week with a broken forearm. The Texans re-signed Troy Nolan on Wednesday to take his place.
Wide receiver Lestar Jean did not practice Thursday, but he is not far off from returning from arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
"Lestar, he looked pretty good running with the trainers, but I think he's an end-of-the-week decision," Kubiak said. "Our expectations were that he would miss a couple of games, but he's come along pretty darn quick. Tate, we're kind of shooting toward the end of the week. We'll see what happens."
Nose tackle Shaun Cody (back), tight end Owen Daniels (thigh), wide receiver Andre Johnson (groin), safety Shiloh Keo (neck) and defensive end Antonio Smith (ankle) were all limited on Thursday, but Kubiak did not mention any of them as injury concerns.
Twitter.com/NickScurfield
