Texans' Jordan Thomas: Increased role Thursday

Thomas and fellow tight end Jordan Akins will step in for starter Ryan Griffin (illness), who has been ruled out of Thursday's game against Miami, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.

This same state existed in Week 7, and the Thomas/Akins duo had a combined one target. Thomas (55 snaps) got the bulk of playing time as he's considered the better blocker of the two, and we should see a repeat of last week's playing-time split. Miami's 29th-ranked run defense could be vulnerable to Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue all night long.