Arian Foster frustrated with Texans’ offensive game plan

Yeah the Texans won Monday night, but Arian Foster feels he has earned to right to more touches in the offense, especially during the fourth quarter.

by Louis Bien

Sep 13, 2013, 12:16 AM UTC

Jeff Gross

Arian Foster admitted that he was frustrated with the Houston Texans during the team's comeback win over the San Diego Chargers on Monday night. Speaking with ESPN, Foster said that he wished he was given more than 18 carries for 57 yards despite the fact that the Texans ultimately earned the win. It's just his "competitive nature":

“It’s getting to crunch time, it’s the fourth quarter and you want to be out there,” Foster said. “But this is kind of how it played out. In my opinion, you would be concerned with a player that’s happy he’s not in there in the last minutes of the game when the game is on the line.”

Foster had four carries in the fourth quarter, but all of them came on the Texans' final drive when the team was trying to gain a few extra yards in preparation for Randy Bullock's game-winning field goal. The lack of touches was unsurprising given that the Texans entered the quarter down 14 points and had to pass to catch up. Still, Foster was unsatisfied, particularly with backup Ben Tate (nine carries, 55 yards) carrying a nearly equal load.

Via ESPN again:

“Coach makes the final ruling,” Foster said. “But as a competitor, I’ve been in this league, I felt that I’ve played well throughout my tenure here. You want to be out there. You feel like you’ve earned that right to be out there. That’s just where the frustration comes from.”

Head coach Gary Kubiak has been using Foster and Tate in rotation with Foster still recovering from a calf injury he suffered before training camp. Teammates have been impressed with him since he returned off the physically unable to perform list on Aug. 21, however, and he certainly showed he was effective against the Chargers.

Unfortunately for him, Tate was effective too. Foster may be frustrated, but as long the Texans are winning, even ugly, he isn’t on strong ground to complain.