Texans RB Foster will be a challenge to stop

If the Giants were like a lot of us and didn't know who Arian Foster was a month ago, they certainly do now. He's only leading the NFL in rushing yards for the league's top running team, the Texans. And if it seems as if he came out of nowhere, well, he kind of did.

Foster played at Tennessee in college but was injured his senior year and was undrafted in 2009. He did not make the Texans' roster out of training camp but eventually was promoted from their practice squad and played in a handful of games at the end of last season.

He ran for 231 yards against the Colts in this year's opener and has slowed down only slightly since then, averaging 102 yards in his other three contests. Now he'll be looking to keep that production going against the Giants.

"He's an undrafted guy who comes in and he's taking the league by storm right now," Justin Tuck said. "We have a great challenge and hopefully we can find a way to slow him down, because obviously, no one else has."

"I don't know how you defend against that," defensive tackle Chris Canty said. "There are a lot of different approaches to it, a lot of people have tried a lot of different things, and so far nothing has really worked."

The Texans run a zone-blocking system similar to the one the Broncos used when Gary Kubiak was a backup quarterback and offensive coordinator under Mike Shanahan. The idea is for the offensive line to create seams in the defense and for the running back to be patient enough to find and attack them.

The Giants hope to slow him down a little bit with what coordinator Perry Fewell said may be a front four built for just this kind of a challenge. "You'd better hope that they're built for this,'' he said, "because this is one tough offensive scheme."

And while the scheme is solid and time-tested, the running back also is pretty good.

"He's probably not the fastest and not the strongest, but he's a great combination of both," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said.

Tuck tried to come up with a comparable running back he has seen in the past. "No one comes to mind," Tuck said, marveling at his speed and power. "Maybe he's in a class of his own right now."

Notes & quotes: RB Ahmad Bradshaw (ankle) did not practice for the second straight day, but Coughlin said he thinks he'll be able to practice today . . . LB Keith Bulluck (toe) did not practice and said it is disappointing because he would have had a lot of playing time against the run-oriented Texans. He said his injury is no worse but is not getting better . . . C Adam Koets (knee) returned to practice, as did DE Osi Umenyiora (knee) and S Kenny Phillips (knee). All three were limited . . . CB Terrell Thomas (hamstring) did not practice . . . Texans WR Andre Johnson (ankle) and DE Mario Williams (groin) were limited.