Receiver Andre Johnson could actually put up some good fantasy numbers on Sunday. His Houston Texans go up against the Tennessee Titans in the last game of the regular season and Johnson looks to get in on a number of plays. He missed the last three games due to a strained left hamstring, further compounding his issue with injuries during the 2011 NFL season. For fantasy football owners he became one of the most frustrating players to have this year.

In Week 13 against the Atlanta Falcons, Johnson had 9.7 fantasy points in the 17-10 win. It was only the sixth game that he had played in 2011, but the 4 catches and 97 receiving yards really helped out the Titans. It ended up just becoming a big tease to those that play fantasy football, because he would then miss the next three weeks.

After starting out the season with three good games, it really looked like Johnson was going to put up some of the best numbers of his career. He had 21 catches for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns heading into Week 4, showing that he could threaten the 100-catch 1,600-yard mark for the year. It didn’t go according to plan though, and injuries caused him to miss nine games of the fantasy season. Now he returns in Week 17 during a time when many fantasy leagues have actually already finished.

There are some Texans fans frustrated with the news that Johnson is even returning before the playoffs, simply because a hamstring injury is one of the easiest to worsen on the football field. One bad cut or misstep and Johnson could miss the playoffs, likely taking away one of the best weapons that the Texans have on offense. This is where the risk also comes in for fantasy football owners, because while Johnson has the opportunity to make a big play or two, he might have very limited playing time. If the quarterback(s) can’t get him the ball early, then he may not post very good stats for the day.

Consider Johnson a risk as a fantasy starter in Week 17, though he does have the potential to put up big numbers on the first two drives alone. Starting a receiver that will play a full game in Week 17 is definitely a safer bet at this point, but most league champions know when to play it safe and when to bet on a talented player trying to prove something.

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Sources:

Week 16 NFL Scores

Defensive Team Leaders

Yahoo! Fantasy Football

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HOUSTON — Houston Texans star receiver Andre Johnson will play against Tennessee on Sunday after missing the past three games because of a strained left hamstring.

Coach Gary Kubiak said Johnson will be on a play count, but wasn’t sure how many. Johnson has played only six games this season after missing six straight with a right hamstring injury that required surgery.

“It was all depending on how the week went and everything went fine this past week, so I’ll be able to go out and play a little bit on Sunday,” Johnson said.

Kubiak said he wants Johnson to play so he’ll be ready to contribute for Houston next weekend in its first playoff game. Johnson also believes getting some work in this week is important.

“I just want to get back in the flow of playing a game,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve played. I just want to get back to the game feeling. I think it will show fans that I will be ready to play for the playoffs. So it will give them something to be excited about.”

Johnson is disappointed that he hasn’t been able to play much this season, but after enduring years of losing seasons in Houston, the team’s success this year has kept his attitude positive.

“It’s been a long season with a lot of frustrating times, but there’s still light at the end of the tunnel,” Johnson said.

The AFC South champions have lost two straight heading into Sunday’s game after reeling off seven consecutive wins. While the outcome can’t change their playoff position, they hope to build momentum for the postseason.

“We want to go out and win this game and get back to playing football the way we had when we were on our winning streak,” Johnson said. “We need to come out and eliminate those mistakes that we’ve been having for the past couple of weeks.”

Johnson has finished with more than 1,200 yards receiving the each of the past three seasons, including a career-high 1,575 in 2008. He has 31 receptions for 471 yards and two touchdowns this season while missing the most games in his career.

HOUSTON — Houston Texans star receiver Andre Johnson will sit out Sunday’s game at Cincinnati with a strained left hamstring.

Johnson hurt himself chasing down a deep pass from rookie T.J. Yates late in the third quarter of last week’s 17-10 win over Atlanta. Johnson didn’t practice all week, and coach Gary Kubiak said Friday that he would keep him out of Sunday’s game.

The Texans (9-3) have won six in a row and can clinch the AFC South with a victory over the Bengals (7-5) and a Tennessee loss to New Orleans.

Johnson was playing his second game after missing six with a right hamstring injury that required minor surgery. Kubiak has said Johnson’s latest hamstring injury was not as serious as the earlier one.

“It’s very disappointing,” Johnson said. “You work your butt off to get back after missing six games and then to have something like this to happen again is very frustrating. But at the same time, the team’s in a great position. I’m just trying to do everything I can to get back, so that I can get back out on the field and play.”

Johnson couldn’t say if he would be ready to play in Houston’s next game — Dec. 18 against Carolina. He worked out in a pool on Thursday and ran on a treadmill Friday.

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to play this week, so that’s pretty much it,” he said. “You definitely would like to be a part of it, be out there playing, but things happen. There’s a reason why these things happen, and that’s just the way I look at it. Something positive will come from it.”

HOUSTON (AP)—No matter how many obstacles the Houston Texans face, they
keep finding ways to overcome them.

On Sunday rookie quarterback T.J. Yates(notes) led them to their franchise-record
sixth straight win with a 17-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Yates threw a touchdown pass in his first NFL start, Arian Foster(notes) rushed for
111 yards and Houston (9-3) kept rolling despite another injury to Andre
Johnson(notes).

“It’s a great win because of everything this team has been through,” coach
Gary Kubiak said. “We found a way to win.”

The Texans’ success is remarkable considering they’re down to their
third-string quarterback and have played many of their games without their star
receiver.

The Falcons (7-5) sputtered offensively most of the game in losing for the
second time in seven games. Houston’s top-ranked defense knocked down two passes
by Matt Ryan(notes) in the end zone in the closing seconds.

“(The win) is big because it proves a lot because of the adversity we went
through,” linebacker Brian Cushing(notes) said. “Coming in here with your No. 3
quarterback against a defense like that and playing an offense like that, I
think it really says a lot about our team.”

Yates went 12 for 25 for 188 yards without an interception, an impressively
poised performance after a dizzying week.

The fifth-round pick was thrust into his pro debut last week in Jacksonville
when Matt Leinart(notes) broke his collarbone. Leinart was starting in place of Matt
Schaub(notes), who broke his right foot in Houston’s previous game.

The 24-year-old Yates went 8 for 15 for 70 yards in his
earlier-than-expected debut against the Jaguars. He was sacked three times by
the Falcons, but never looked overwhelmed.

Yates took a hard hit from John Abraham(notes) early in the third quarter, but
Abraham was disappointed that they weren’t able to disrupt him more.

“It was our fault for not getting him down,” Abraham said. “We got a few
good pressures on him. But there’s a difference between making him move and
making him take hits and getting him on the ground. We didn’t get him on the
ground that much. He did a good job.”

Johnson looked like he’d be Yates’ go-to guy early, making leaping catches
on the quarterback’s first two completions. The All-Pro receiver also atoned for
an earlier drop by pulling in a perfect 50-yard pass from Yates to the Atlanta 5
in the second quarter.

Yates then snapped a quick pass to tight end Joel Dreessen(notes) for his first
career TD, and chants of “T.J.! T.J.!” emerged from the capacity crowd.

“I was studying my butt off all week long,” Yates said, “and it paid
off.”

Naturally, the Texans couldn’t make it through a game without more
adversity.

Johnson left in the third quarter after hurting his left hamstring. He
injured his right hamstring in Week 4, had minor surgery and sat out six games.

Kubiak said after the game that he was told the injury was not severe, but
he couldn’t be certain until Johnson has tests on Monday.

“I know it’s not as bad as the last injury I had, but I’m definitely
worried about it,” Johnson said. “It just didn’t feel right.”

After Johnson went down, Foster took over the offensive load, carrying 10
times on Houston’s decisive drive. Foster scored on a 1-yard run with 6:05 left,
and then it was up to the Texans’ defense to finish.

Atlanta got the ball back with 59 seconds left, and Ryan threw a deep pass
to Julio Jones(notes) to the Texans 25. But Ryan overthrew Roddy White(notes) in one corner of
the end zone and Kareem Jackson(notes) swatted away a pass to Jones in the other corner
as time expired.

“I had the opportunity to make that play and I just had to come up with the
catch at the end,” Jones said.

Ryan completed 20 of 46 passes for 267 yards with two touchdowns, but also
threw two interceptions. The Texans have intercepted a pass in 11 consecutive
games.

“We played in spurts,” Atlanta coach Mike Smith said. “We didn’t do the
things we wanted to accomplish. We had way too many dropped footballs, way too
many things that we normally don’t do.”

After Johnson went down, Foster kept Houston on track, converting a
fourth-and-1 with a 7-yard run to the Atlanta 2. The Texans took more than 10
minutes off the clock with the decisive, 19-play drive, which tied a team
record.

Notes: Sunday was the ninth game this season in which the Texans have held
an opponent under 20 points. … Tony Gonzalez(notes) has a catch in 175 consecutive
games, the league’s longest active streak. The tight end also reached 60
receptions for the 13th consecutive season, an NFL record. … The Texans had a
positive turnover ratio (plus-1) for the eighth time in 12 games. … Houston
has already matched its highest single-season win total (9-7 in 2009).