Why Arian Foster Can Make Up for Lost Time Against the Raiders This Weekend
For Arian Foster and many Texans fans alike, the start to the season has been a frustrating one. He injured his hamstring in the preseason, only to re-injure it in the season opener. Foster was limited to 10 carries for 33 yards during the first 3 contests. Truth be told, those 10 carries were all in week 2, before he re-aggravated it again.
But Arian showed that he is healthy against the Steelers defense in Week 4. He galloped for 5.2 yards per carry to the tune of 155 yards. Foster showed the power and explosiveness that lead him to the rushing crown where he amassed 1,616 rushing yards. That is not counting the additional 604 yards he added in the passing game.
While Foster has been away, the competition has not been sleeping. The Raiders Darren McFadden has followed up on his break out season a year ago, with a red hot start to the season. Run DMC has already tallied 468 yards rushing at a sickening 6.2 yards per carry. The Raiders are a run first team so that trend should continue. If he stays healthy this year, no one should challenge him for the title.
Both of these elite backs should have a huge day this weekend when the Texans and Raiders face off. They both have displayed a true commitment to the run game and this should be a great game to watch. We keep hearing about the Raiders defense and how physical and imposing they are. But where is it? The Raiders rushing defense surprised me when I found it has given up 544 yards already. What is worse, they are giving it up in chunks. They allow an average of 5.9 yards per carry, with a league leading 8 runs of 20 or more yards. This trend continues and Arian Foster is licking his chops.
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