Ben Tate, the Texans' super sub in their two victories over Indianapolis and Miami, could be their third starting running back in three games when they play Sunday at New Orleans.Tate has come off the bench to rush for 116 yards against the Colts and 103 yards against the Dolphins. His unselfish attitude combined with his toughness and productivity could lead to the first start of his career.Because of Arian Foster's strained hamstring, Derrick Ward started against the Colts. Foster returned against the Dolphins but didn't play in the second half because his hamstring felt tight and he was fatigued in the heat and humidity at Sun Life Stadium."I think we took the step that we were kind of expecting to take," coach Gary Kubiak said Monday. "Arian's missed a lot of time. We knew going into the game we weren't going to play Arian 40, 50 plays. We were hoping to get him 10 to 15 carries."Foster carried 10 times for 33 yards. On his last six carries, he totaled 11 yards."At halftime, he felt like he was tightening up a little bit, so we made the decision to move forward with Ben and Steve (Slaton)," Kubiak said. "He (Foster) is a little sore. He didn't run with the team (on Monday). We'll see where he's at Wednesday."Eat the clockTate, who missed his rookie year with a broken ankle, was at his best in the fourth quarter of the 23-13 victory over the Dolphins. On the Texans' last two series, he used up almost all of the clock with 11 consecutive carries, including eight in the first series."He's playing really well," Kubiak said. "As we work Arian back into what we're doing and get him back to full speed, Ben's going to probably carry most of the load."He's responded very well. He's getting better every time out, and the thing that was most encouraging is he played his best football with about 10 minutes left in the game. They knew we were going to run, and we were able to run it anyway."Cornerback Johnathan Joseph put on a gallant performance at Miami. He suffered a sprained ankle and left the game. When his replacement, Jason Allen, was beaten on two plays, including a touchdown, Joseph returned to the game. The Dolphins didn't score another touchdown."He's doing pretty good," Kubiak said. "He did not jog with the team, so he's in a day-to-day process."NFL's No. 1 defenseThrough the first two weeks of the season, the Texans rank first in the NFL in total defense (271 yards per game) and have allowed a league-low 20 points."It makes you feel real good," Kubiak said of the ranking. "I think we're surprised at how quick the process has taken place with no offseason and (defensive coordinator) Wade (Phillips) just having those guys for seven or eight weeks."When you watch the work that's taking place every day, the energy that we're playing with, how hard we're playing, you know why you're getting much better results. They'll have their biggest test coming up with New Orleans, but I think the biggest thing is we've got a lot of people involved, we're playing extremely hard as a team, and some good things are happening."
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