If coach Gary Kubiak likes what he sees on film of Saturday's practice, Schaub will be Sage Rosenfels' backup on Monday night.
Quarterback Matt Schaub, who has been sidelined since suffering an MCL injury at Minnesota on Nov. 2, might be in uniform on Monday night as Sage Rosenfels' backup, coach Gary Kubiak said after practice on Saturday.
"We went into this week not expecting Matt to really be in that position," Kubiak said. "He's made a lot of progress. He's gotten better each day. What we're going to do is go back and evaluate his practice.
"He took all the reps today with the scout team. We're going to evaluate it, me and (head athletic trainer) Kevin (Bastin) and (general manager) Rick (Smith). If we feel good about his practice, then he will go into the game as the backup."
Regardless of Schaub's status, Rosenfels will start on Monday. Kubiak said that Schaub will either be the No. 2 quarterback or not dress for the game at all. If Schaub is inactive, Craig Nall will back up Rosenfels as he has for the past three weeks.
"I won't name (Schaub) the backup in the game unless I know that he can go in that game and play," Kubiak said. "It's been a day-to-day process, and what we've done each day is take the film and just cut his plays out and really study his plays and compare them to what he's done in the past.
"We'll do the same thing this afternoon. If I name him the backup, then he's very capable of going in the football game."
{QUOTE}Schaub, who is 3-4 as a starter this season with a 91.0 passer rating, has been lobbying Texans coaches to put him back in the lineup this week. He said on Friday that he feels like he's getting to the point where he is ready to play.
Though Schaub is wearing a brace on his left knee, wide receiver Andre Johnson said that it doesn't seem like the quarterback has missed a beat in his timing with the receivers.
"He told me when he got injured that he would be back out practicing the week of this game, the Monday night game," Johnson said. "I told him he was crazy, but I don't know, he must have some Miracle Rub or something (else) happen.
"To be honest, when you see him out there, he doesn't even look like he had an injury. He's moving around real good. He looks good. I'm just glad to see him back out there."
Schaub indicated on Friday that if he does play in Monday's game, he won't feel as though he has to rush any of his throws to avoid getting hit.
"I don't think it'll be an issue," he said. "It's just going out there and cutting it loose and playing, because if I'm hesitant at all or tentative, that's not going to help my football team. And I think with the rehab and the way I've been working the past week or so, moving around and in practice here, I feel like I'm pretty confident in what I can do on it."
