Nick

Chubb

Making what was likely his final appearance as a Texan, Chubb was a ground-game afterthought despite Woody Marks’ ongoing ineffectiveness. Veteran deference made Chubb the Texans’ lead back to begin the season, but he was easily passed by Marks, who never surrendered No. 1 status despite ineffectiveness of his own. Now on the wrong side of 30 and simply out of gas, free-agent-to-be Chubb probably won’t land guaranteed money on the open market. The main things working in his favor at this point are his experience, leadership and aversion to fumbling.

Marks was the primary engine of the offense against a stout Pittsburgh defensive front, keeping the wheels turning throughout to eventually find himself with a career-high 99 yards with under five minutes left to play. He would break through in a big way and eclipse the 100-yard threshold for the first time in his career on his final touch of the game, taking a handoff 13 yards to the house to send the Steelers into their offseason. Furthermore, he handled the vast majority of the backfield work in the absence of Jawhar Jordan, with veteran Nick Chubb doing most of the heavy lifting with the game in hand in the fourth quarter. Chubb ended with a respectable 48 yards on 10 carries. Marks could be tasked with another robust workload when the Texans travel to face the Patriots in Foxboro, which presents yet another difficult matchup on the ground for the rookie back.

NBC Sports Houston’s Aaron Wilson reported this morning that testing confirms Jordan suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 18 against the Colts. He was unsurprisingly unable to practice on Thursday. The Texans face the Steelers on Monday. Veteran RB Nick Chubb would get his old job back as the team’s No. 2 rusher if Jordan cannot play.

Jordan out-snapped veteran RB Nick Chubb 11-to-5 and out-touched him 8-to-1 against the Chargers on Saturday. After starting RB Woody Marks took a hard hit from Chargers OLB Khalil Mack in the fourth quarter, it was Jordan, not Chubb, who replaced Marks briefly in the lineup. He is the Texans’ No. 2 running back and should be stashed accordingly.

He had a 30-yard carry in the fourth quarter for Houston’s largest play of the game as Raiders DB Lonnie Johnson tried to shoulder tackle him. That tells you a lot about how effective the other carries were. If Chubb can’t manage more than this without Woody Marks, he’s probably droppable in most leagues.

As Rapoport notes, expect plenty of Nick Chubb, who is expected to play through a rib injury today. Chubb should indeed lead the backfield, but it wouldn’t be surprising for Jawhar Jordan to see some work as well. Jordan ran for 101 yards on 15 carries with Marks going down early last week. As the top back versus a dead-on-arrival Raiders squad, Chubb is in the RB3 ranks for Week 16. Jordan is a high-risk RB4.

Chubb practiced in full twice this week and shouldn’t be limited after missing Week 15’s game with the rib issue. Woody Marks, on the other hand, only logged one practice all week. It was a limited session on Friday, after which the team listed him as questionable. If he doesn’t suit up, Chubb would be in line for lead back duties and an RB2 ranking versus a lowly Raiders defense.

It’s a curious questionable tag since Chubb got in two full sessions on Thursday and Friday — several backs with that workload would be off the injury report entirely. Chubb could be a worthwhile FLEX play against the Raiders depending on who is active at 3 ET, but odds are he’ll probably split the workload with Jawhar Jordan if he is up and Woody Marks (ankle) is down.

Chubb is now on track to play. Texans starting RB Woody Marks (ankle), unfortunately, remains sidelined. Chubb would likely handle interior rushing duties if Marks cannot play, but RB Jawhar Jordan would change the pace and play on passing downs. In this scenario, Chubb may be able to punch in a touchdown against the lowly Raiders.

Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans inspired hope when he told reporters that Marks could have returned in Week 15, if the team had needed him. Having missed the first two Week 16 practices, Marks must now be viewed as questionable to play. The Texans (9-5) are in playoff contention, so it is possible that the team is simply giving their featured rookie running back extra time to rest before relying heavily upon him once again on game day. If he can resume practicing tomorrow, he should be good to go. In the meantime, stashing RB Jawhar Jordan is worthwhile. Veteran RB Nick Chubb (ribs) should also be available on game day.