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Running back Arian Foster expects to play for the Texans on Sunday.

Coach Gary Kubiak isn’t quite so sure. He called Foster a game time decision during his meeting with the media on Friday after Foster missed practice because of knee soreness. Foster was pulled out of practice on Thursday with the same problem, leading to a visit to the MRI machine that Kubiak said turned out fine.

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports that Kubiak said he’s optimistic that Foster and linebacker Brooks Reed, in the same game time decision boat thanks to a hip injury, will be able to play against the Dolphins. As mentioned, Foster expects to play and he downplayed the seriousness of the soreness that’s keeping him off the field.

“I work extremely hard, and sometimes things just need a little bit of rest,” Foster said, via Nick Scurfield of the team’s website.

The good news for the Texans is that they have Ben Tate ready to play in the event Foster isn’t able to go and the 2012 Dolphins aren’t exactly shaping up to be the 1972 Dolphins. Still, you don’t want to start the year with your starting tailback experiencing knee troubles. This will likely be a situation to monitor in the weeks to come as well.