The Houston Texans' offense isn't expected to regain Arian Foster's services Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it lost another critical offensive piece, receiver DeAndre Hopkins, for practice Wednesday.
Texans coach Bill O'Brien said he doesn't think Foster will make his season debut against the Buccaneers. Foster, who suffered a torn groin in training camp, practiced in a limited capacity Wednesday after returning to practice last week.
"I think that he's a guy that really understands his own body very well," O'Brien said. "He's really looking good at practice. I'll say that. I like the way he looks. He looks like he's in good shape and feels better. I'm not sure about this week but I would say he will be back sooner rather than later."
Hopkins, meanwhile, missed Wednesday's practice with a concussion, the Texans said. He played on all but one snap in last weekend's loss to the Carolina Panthers.
The third-year wideout has been Houston's top offensive player through two games. He had nine catches for 98 yards, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1, and five catches for 53 yards against the Panthers.
Foster suffered a torn groin Aug. 3 in the Texans' first padded practice of training camp. He had surgery to repair the injury Aug. 7 in Philadelphia.
Foster has not been made available to the media in about two weeks, but said before the Texans' Week 1 matchup that he wanted to feel as close to 100 percent as possible before returning to play.
"There are things that you can push through, but like muscle injuries, there's nothing you can do because it literally hinders the movement," Foster said. "As soon as I feel like the movement isn't hindered and I'm not going to re-injure it, I'll be out there."
In his absence, the Texans have used a combination of running backs Alfred Blue, Chris Polk and Jonathan Grimes. Grimes suffered a knee injury against the Panthers and didn't practice Wednesday.
The Texans (0-2) have gone two straight games without reaching 100 yards rushing. They ran for 98 yards against the Chiefs and 61 against the Panthers.