The Texans had a walk-through practice on Monday evening, getting to work on preparation for a Thanksgiving game at Detroit after beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in overtime on Sunday.
Several injured players are expected to be game-time decisions on Thursday against the Lions, including cornerback Johnathan Joseph (hamstring), nose tackle Shaun Cody (ribs/back), running back Ben Tate (hamstring), inside linebacker Tim Dobbins (shoulder) and rookie wide receiver DeVier Posey (hamstring/knee).
Joseph, a Pro Bowler in 2011, left Sunday's game in overtime with a hamstring injury and had to receive an MRI.
"He's got a strain, but it's a slight strain," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said Monday night at his press conference at Reliant Stadium. "It's just (dependent on) how he reacts to it. He's feeling pretty good today. We'll see where he's at tomorrow."
Because it's such a short week, the Texans will do mostly mental work before Thursday. They'll practice Tuesday and fly to Detroit Wednesday, then work out their questionable players before the game to determine if they can play.
Cody, who played for the Lions from 2005-08, has missed the last two games but said Monday he would "love to get a chance to play" against his former team.
"Shaun is a lot closer," Kubiak said. "I know this is important to him to play in this game. We'll see where we're at tomorrow. He's going to work this week, but he's probably still going to be a game time decision from us because we're going to do the right thing with him because we have a lot of football left to play."
Tate has missed the last three games. Kubiak said "he's got a good chance" to return against Detroit.
"He's doing good," Kubiak said. "We worked him pretty hard yesterday before the game. He responded well to that, so that's positive. Everything we're going to do this week is going to be very light, just getting ready more mentally than anything else. We'll have to push him away from the group to see how far he's come. He'll probably be doing a combination of working with the trainers and working with us tomorrow."
Starting left guard Wade Smith was listed as a non-participant in Monday's practice with a ribs injury, but that was an estimation of what would have happened in a normal practice. The Texans were required to send that estimation out before their actual walk-through took place.
"He's OK," Kubiak said. "He's sore, but he took part in practice. He did play the whole game. All expectations are that he'll be ready to go."
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