Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury, did not practice on Wednesday.
Coach Gary Kubiak said that Johnson was sore coming out of a Monday workout at Reliant Stadium. Kubiak did not rule out the All-Pro receiver from Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns.
"We gave him a day of rest," Kubiak said. "We pushed Andre on Monday. He came out and had a real strong workout; (we) pushed him. He got sore on us, and so that means for us to slow down a little bit, so we gave him the day off today. We'll see where we're at tomorrow."
Last Friday, Johnson estimated that his surgically repaired right hamstring was 70-75 percent healthy. He said he felt tugging in his leg when he tried to run full-speed at practice last Wednesday and Thursday. He was held out of practice on Friday so that he could focus on his rehab.
"We're still in a day-to-day process," Kubiak said. "But I think every day, it tells us something. If he feels good, then we come and we get going again. If he doesn't, then hey, hold on. It's not ready yet. We're just going to continue to listen, but everything's still positive. We just gave him a day off."
Johnson is unlikely to play against the Browns if he does not practice this week. With the Texans' bye week coming up on Nov. 20, Kubiak was asked if he has thought about keeping Johnson out for the next two games.
"If Andre can come back today, no, we need him back," Kubiak said. "I mean, we need to be as good as we can be. The thing here is we've got to do what's best for him as a player. He's going to play a lot more football in this league and he's going to play a lot more this year, but we've just got to be smart when that is. That was the procedure he had done. We knew; they talked to us from the beginning about four weeks, but Andre's such a competitor, I know he was sitting there thinking two or three. I just know how he is.
"We've just got to keep his chin up and keep going because we still feel very good about the direction we're heading. We've just got to make sure he's ready to go."
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