HOUSTON — Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson has exited Houston’s Sunday matchup against the Atlanta Falcons after sustaining a left hamstring injury.

Johnson missed six games earlier this season with a hamstring injury in his other leg.

Johnson hit the ground during a route, untouched. He is being evaluated by trainers and was deemed questionable to return.

Johnson had four catches for 97 yards before going out.

Read More: Andre Johnson (WR – HOU), Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns at Houston Texans, Nov 6, 2011 12:00 PM CST

Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak would not rule out his star wide receiver, Andre Johnson, for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, but Johnson’s availability doesn’t look promising through Thursday. 

Kubiak suggested that Johnson was sore after an intense workout earlier in the week, and that’s why he has missed two straight days of practice this week, but intense workouts are a little different than football action — Johnson hasn’t played since he was injured over a month ago on October 2. Johnson is expected to practice on Friday, though, and will probably be a game-time decision.

The 5-3 Texans have an extensive injury list, but most of them were full participants on Thursday. Here is their full injury report through Thursday:

By James Carr

The bad blood between the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans isn’t going away any time soon.

The past few seasons have seen increased tension between the AFC South rivals, including accusations of chop blocking to cause injury, name calling and, of course, the memorable brawl last season between Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson and Titans defensive back Cortland Finnegan.

Finnegan has been criticized throughout the league for his behavior on the field — especially against the Texans. In 2009, Finnegan seemed to instigate a Titans-Texans scuffle in which Johnson ended up throwing Finnegan to the ground by his facemask. In 2010, Johnson threw several punches at Finnegan during the fourth quarter of a 20-0 Texans victory. Both Finnegan and Johnson were fined $25,000 for the incident.

Johnson will sit out the teams’ game Sunday because of an injury, but memories of the rivalry are fresh in the minds of the players.

During an interview with The Big Show on KBME (790 AM) in Houston, Texans wide receiver Kevin Walter described Finnegan in less than flattering terms. Walters pointed out some of the feisty defensive back’s other habits, and while noting he didn’t necessarily like Finnegan, he’d like to have someone like that on his team.

“It’d be pretty cool to have a guy like that on your team because he’s busting his tail every time,” Walter said. “He can be a p***k here and there, but that’s how he plays.”

The intensity figures to remain high as the two teams share the AFC South lead.

Read More: nfl injury report, texans injury report, andre johnson injury, Andre Johnson (WR – HOU), Houston Texans

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson sat out Wednesday’s practice while dealing with a sore knee. Johnson said he was fine and would be back at practice tomorrow.

As long as Johnson participates in Thursday and Friday practices, there is no real need to get concerned about this. Rather, this post is more just to make sure you’ve got this on your radar. For guys like Johnson, it’s easy to stick them in your lineup and only make an adjustment when their bye week comes around. You’ll want to keep an eye out for Thursday and Friday injury reports.

As long as Johnson practices before the end of the week, he’s good to go for this Sunday, which means you’ll keep him in your starting lineup. The Texans are facing a struggling Pittsburgh Steelers squad and Johnson could be in line for a particularly strong day. Not that you wouldn’t start him if you were worried about a strong secondary.

For more on the Texans, check out Battle Red Blog. For more on fantasy football, check out Fake Teams.

Houston — Welcome to Reliant Stadium and tonight’s preseason game between the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans.

We’ll be updating the game with our live twitter feed. Follow along here:

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Morgan (13) catches a 56-yard touchdown against the Houston Texans.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees didn’t start out very well against Houston.