It looked like Houston Texans running back Woody Marks was on his way to a huge performance in the Week 15 game against the Arizona Cardinals.
By the end of the first quarter, Marks had seven carries for 30 yards and found pay dirt on a botched snap near the goal line and it looked like fantasy football owners who started Marks were going to be well-compensated for their faith.
And then injury struck and Marks was not seen for the rest of the contest.
Marks did exit briefly earlier in the game before returning, but he once again exited after that and was questionable to return before not seeing the field again.
While it was assumed that Marks had suffered an injury that simply did not allow him to get back into the game, it turns out that was not the case and instead the Texans held him out as a precaution, according to Aaron Wilson of Click2Houston.com.
“Woody could have come back in the game,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He got his ankle tweaked a little bit there early in the game. For where he was, felt like Jawhar and Dare were doing a good job, so wanted to keep rolling with those guys and make sure Woody is good as we continue to go into the week.”
While that will obviously be frustrating for fantasy football owners to hear after the decision cost them dearly, it certainly made sense from the Texans' standpoint.
After all, the Texans don't want to risk losing their top back to a more significant injury with the playoffs in sight.
Furthermore, Houston was never really in danger of losing to the Cardinals after jumping out to a 17-point lead, so it made no sense to risk it with Marks.
It's a brutal situation for fantasy football owners who lost their playoff matchup as a result, but this is what we sign up for when we play the game.
As for the Texans, this is great news, as it likely means Marks will be good to go for Week 16.
More NFL News
- Can Cowboys still make the playoffs after Week 15 loss to Vikings?
- Davante Adams injury update from Rams leaves Week 16 status in doubt
- Packers' Micah Parsons feared to have season-ending injury
- Patrick Mahomes' injury diagnosis is worst-case scenario for Chiefs
- Patrick Mahomes makes first public comment since knee injury