Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz's injury was originally dubbed a groin issue. It was later revealed to be a "minor" core muscle tear that required a procedure, performed by well-known sports hernia surgeon Dr. William Meyers. Much like Ertz, Houston Texans running back Arian Foster's own recent injury was originally clouded in a bit of mystery. By the time he went under Dr. Meyers' knife, it was reported by ESPN that he had a groin injury. According to Dr. David Chao, MD, the injuries and resulting procedures are "very similar."
"Both players had sports hernia type surgery by the same surgeon. Other names like athletic pubalgia, core muscle or groin surgery are often used interchangeably but the procedures are very similar. So should the return timetable be similar. To be clear, neither player had true groin tendon reattachment surgery as speculated in the media," Chao wrote, via NationalFootballPost.com.
Chao believes, based on the evidence available to him, that both of their returns should be "more similar than different." As Foster's return was pegged at somewhere around three months and Ertz was said to be eyeing a Week One return, this is either great news for Foster fans or terrible news for Ertz hopefuls.
"I estimate it is possible, but not guaranteed that Ertz is ready for the opener," writes Chao. "Typically sports hernia recovery is 4-6 weeks. Foster's recovery should be similar but may be slightly longer due to his position and as the bell cow running back, the Texans may want to make sure he is 100% to avoid any flare ups throughout the season."
While both teams are likely to take their time seeing their respective offensive weapons return to the field, there's simply no doubting Foster's vital importance to the Texans cause in 2015. With veteran Brian Hoyer and the mostly unknown Ryan Mallett battling it out for the No. 1 spot on the signal-caller depth chart, the run game is almost assured to carry the heft of the load in Houston this season. A quicker return for Foster would mean big things for a Texans fanbase desperate for a playoff berth.
