After missing the final two games of the regular season with an ankle injury, Houston Texans running back Lamar Miller will return to action for the team’s wild card playoff game against the Oakland Raiders this upcoming weekend.
Texans head coach Bill O’Brien indicated on Monday that Miller is feeling better and is ready to go.
“I think he’s feeling better,” O’Brien said, via the Houston Chronicle. “I think it will be great. It will be good to have him back. He’s been a very productive player for us this year.”
Miller put up 1,261 total yards and six touchdowns for the Texans during the regular season, his first with the team after signing a free-agent deal during the spring.
This is some relatively big news for a Texans team that has a tremendous question mark at quarterback heading into the playoffs. Tom Savage has started each of the past two games after replacing a mistake-prone Brock Osweiler under center earlier in the season. However, Savage exited Sunday’s season finale against the Tennessee Titans with a concussion.
It’s said to be “virtually impossible” for him to pass through the concussion protocol in time to play Saturday against the Raiders (more on that here).
This means the Texans will likely rely heavily on Miller to do some work on the ground against an Oakland defense that yielded the 10th-most rushing yards in the NFL during the regular season.