After physical games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Ravens, the Texans are hobbling into their Week 7 matchup with Tennessee.
Quarterback Matt Schaub (hip/chest), free safety Danieal Manning (leg) and left tackle Duane Brown (knee) are all day-to-day. Wide receiver Andre Johnson (hamstring) and fullback James Casey (chest) are still on the mend. Safety Dominique Barber, a key special teams player, is out for the season after suffering a Lisfranc injury at Baltimore on Sunday. He will be placed on injured reserve this week.
Schaub, who had an MRI on his hip on Monday morning, has been sacked seven times and officially hit 13 more over the last two weeks. He'll play against the Titans but probably won't practice on Wednesday.
"The hip is very sore," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said on Monday. "It's his chest and his hip. He took a good shot one play (against the Ravens) right in his hip and then another play, he took a pretty big shot from the big guy right in the chest, so he's just very beat up right now. But he went out to practice and did what he would normally do on a Monday."
Schaub discussed his MRI on Monday afternoon during an interview with SportsRadio 610 AM.
"Everything looks fine," Schaub said. "Everything looks good. It's just a standard procedure just to make sure for knowledge of the doctors and everything. It was just a couple different things, but the good thing is everything's fine. Just got to get in the training room and get healed up. I'll be ready to go for this weekend, no doubt about it."
The Texans have four more games until their bye week, so keeping Schaub upright will continue to remain a top priority.
"We need him on the field," Kubiak said. "There's not a break in sight right now. It's a month away, so we've just got to be smart with him. Throughout the week, if I've got to give him a break a day a week or two days a week, Matt can play without the practice. I've just got to be smart with him, but he is, along with a lot of guys, just very banged up right now after six weeks."
Kubiak said Manning has "a lower leg contusion" and is "pretty sore." Brown has a knee bruise but did not miss any snaps against the Ravens after being injured early in the fourth quarter.
On the bright side, Johnson is closer to returning after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury. Since he was injured versus Pittsburgh in Week 4, the Texans have gone 1-2 and averaged 17.0 points per game. They averaged 30.0 points and went 2-1 with Johnson in the first three games.
"He made a lot of improvement last week," Kubiak said. "I had a long talk with him Saturday night at the hotel. He's feeling very, very good. We'll increase his work. I have a hard time saying right now (if he'll play in Week 7). Maybe there's a chance he sees the practice field before the end of the week, so I guess if that's the case, there's always a chance, but we'll have to wait and see."
Kubiak gave a similar prognosis on Casey, the versatile fullback who strained his right pectoral muscle on a punt against the Raiders in Week 5. Casey was inactive in Sunday's loss at Baltimore.
"I think there's a chance this week," Kubiak said. "He did go out and work out before the game. I think there's a chance before the end of the week we could be talking about this, but right now, we're still day-to-day."
