Texans Lead the League....In Players on IR: Who's Playing Quarterback and Running Back?

The Texans lead the league with players on IR with 16. By the end of the year last year, they led the league too.

This weekend against the Bucs, Texans starting quarterback Matt Schaub isn't expected to play due to a dislocated non-throwing arm, and will be replaced by backup Sage Rosenfels. There's a good video of Rosenfels talking about the start here. His backup is Shane Boyd, a midseason pickup who has never played a game with the Texans.

Rosenfels is a smart quarterback his teammates like and trust, and can sling the ball. He also tends to throw interceptions at inopportune times. Some fantasy players might be tempted to pick him up for the end of the season because the Texans have been able to pass the ball with Rosenfels, but the Texans are facing some tough pass defenses in the weeks ahead.

Running back Ahman Green suffered a bruised knee in week 1 of the season against Kansas City, and has struggled to come back from it. He practiced on Wednesday for the first time in a while and Gary Kubiak says he's optimistic.

Optimistic in Kubiak-speak means "Hey I am an upbeat guy by nature. Of course, this tells you nothing about whether he will play." If Green can't go, at some point he is going to go on IR to make room for someone who can get on the field.

Kubiak says that running back Ron Dayne suffered a twisted ankle last week but should be expected to play. Ideally, with only one healthy experienced QB, the Texans would like to run the ball a lot down the stretch like they did last year, but I am not sure physically they will be able to do it.

So basically, the Texans have four running backs to choose from. One has been injured for most the season, one is nicked up and two are very inexperienced. They will be running behind a line that will play the backup to the backup at the right guard position, and they haven't figured out who that guy is going to be. If Rosenfels goes out due to injury, a practice squad guy who wasn't with the team in camp is going to fill in. Oh. Joy.

The rest of this season isn't as much about wins and losses but rather learning and survival. They need this time to get their young players experience and hope no more of them get fluky horrible injuries that will harm them in future years.

Any more thoughts on this?