HOUSTON -- Texans star receiver Andre Johnson will sit out Sunday's game at Cincinnati with a strained left hamstring.

Johnson hurt himself chasing down a deep pass from rookie T.J. Yates late in the third quarter of last week's 17-10 win over Atlanta. Johnson didn't practice all week, and coach Gary Kubiak said Friday that he would keep him out of Sunday's game.

The Texans (9-3) have won six in a row and can clinch the AFC South with a victory over the Bengals (7-5) and a Tennessee loss to New Orleans.

Johnson was playing his second game after missing six with a right hamstring injury that required minor surgery. Kubiak has said Johnson's latest hamstring injury was not as serious as the earlier one.

"It's very disappointing," Johnson said. "You work your butt off to get back after missing six games and then to have something like this to happen again is very frustrating. But at the same time, the team's in a great position. I'm just trying to do everything I can to get back, so that I can get back out on the field and play."

Johnson couldn't say if he'd be ready to play in Houston's next game -- Dec. 18 against Carolina. He worked out in a pool on Thursday and ran on a treadmill Friday.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to play this week, so that's pretty much it," he said. "You definitely would like to be a part of it, be out there playing, but things happen. There's a reason why these things happen, and that's just the way I look at it. Something positive will come from it."