Character In the Backfield
Arian Foster still hates your fantasy football team: And he's still the bestrunning back in the NFL
You'd think that a guy might be happy after running for 112 yards on 33 carries — after absolutely beating down the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth quarter — in a crucial divisional win.
And Arian Foster is merry for the most part, showing up for his postgame press conference wearing a stylish black beret and gray sweater ensemble that fit the most unconventional — and arguably most interesting — thinker on the Texans roster. Foster is clearly pleased that the Texans kept feeding him the ball on this Sunday — and that he got better as the game went on as he always believes he does (try 53 yards on 13 carries in the fourth quarter better). He's excited that Houston is 5-3, alone in first place in the AFC South at the season's midpoint for the first time in franchise history.
He's almost giddy about "the chemistry" he sees building and building between the Texans' offense and its no longer stepsister defense.
But Arian Foster still hates your fantasy football team — and all the dorks who keep obsessing over his stats while having little to no interest in the Texans' overall fortunes.
"We're not trying to fill up stat sheets for your fantasy football team," Foster says after Houston's 24-14 gut-check win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Reliant Stadium. "We're looking to get wins."
"(Arian) had a great game," Bob McNair says. "The stats don't look that impressive, but that was a great game."
With Foster, it usually still results in one in the same. Even on a day when he could only average 3.4 yards per carry, a day when he couldn't break any monster plays (his longest run covered 14 yards and he only had one catch), he still ends up with 112 yards and many of the biggest plays of the game.
Against a Jaguars defense that completely dismantled Super Bowl-contender Baltimore's offense just six days before.
"That was tough running," Texans owner Bob McNair says of one of his all-time favorite player's performances. "Boy, did Arian run hard. He had a great game. The stats don't look that impressive, but that was a great game."
Foster's fantasy owners were likely just as thrilled with Foster as the real NFL owner. That doesn't mean Foster has to give them any satisfaction though. His disdain for fantasy football has been well documented this season. It's just one of the quirks that makes Foster infinitely more interesting than most NFL players.
He'll tweak those fantasy freaks even on a day when he gives another example of his greatness. Following up that 234 total-yard-blitz against the Titans with this 124 total-yard-grind-out shows that No. 23 can kill you several ways. It only reinforces the argument that Arian Foster is the most exciting player in football.
One who pinpoints the difference in this Texans teams from Houston teams of the past with much more clarity than most.
"We all just feel it in the locker room," Foster says. "It's really just a fun feeling with the offense and the defense. There's a lot of playful banter going back and forth. We've got chemistry. Maybe, that's what I'm trying to say."
With his feet or his mouth, Foster has a way of getting his point across.