"Steve Slaton is not fat.

He is not slow and he has not forgotten how to run with a football.

Seriously.

He is just a run or two away — long runs that is — from being what he was a year ago — one of the most exciting players in the NFL.

A couple of bad days on the football field and the second-year Texans running back is facing doubts like he never has before.

Well, except for that time they doubted him in college. And when they doubted him in high school.

Slaton says he will deal with the questions just as he did before. He'll run through them.

"There is always going to be speculation and talk about (the cause of the) problems when things aren't going the way you want them to go," Slaton said. "I feel good."

But with only 51 yards on 26 carries in the first two games of the season, many are wondering if Slaton will be able to duplicate the success of his rookie season when he set a franchise single-season record with 1,292 rushing yards.

As he prepares to face Jacksonville at Reliant Stadium on Sunday, Slaton says isn't worried.

"Not at all; it's only Week 2," he said after practice Friday. "We're 1-1 right now. Last year I was in the same boat, same spot. We got a lot of football to play."

Banner season

The Texans had their best running game in team history last season at 4.3 yards per carry. Slaton set the pace, averaging 4.8 yards per carry.

It wasn't a punishing running game, but it was a dangerous one in that eventually Slaton would burst free for a long gain. Ugly, ugly, then pretty.

"It's a combination of things, but really, running the ball is just being committed to it," coach Gary Kubiak said. "You can go out there and have a bunch of ugly 2s and 3s (yard gains), then all of a sudden you bust one and it goes 40 or 50 and then the average looks good.

"That's commitment to running the football, and as I said, I don't think we were there a few weeks ago. I think we did commit to it (against the Titans), (and) even though it wasn't good, it did help us win the football game."

That is the type of running game the Texans are most likely to have this season as well. They're just waiting for Slaton to break free. It doesn't matter if he weighs between 204 and 208 pounds as he did last season or 212, which he says he weighs now.

The long run is the thing.

"We're just a long run away — a missed block here and missed read there — from, on any given play, having a big play," Slaton said.

Kubiak would much prefer going to Slaton late in ballgames to put teams away than asking Matt Schaub to connect with Andre Johnson to cement victories.

They might have the best receiver in the NFL, but the Texans aren't going to abandon the run and turn into a pass-first offense.

Slaton led the NFL in fourth-quarter rushing last season (averaging 4.6 yards per carry), and the Texans were 5-0 when he carried the ball 20 times in a game.

The New York Jets and Tennessee Titans, the Texans' first two opponents, stacked the box with eight men, making it difficult for the Texans to do damage on the ground. Kubiak says the Texans have to be able to run against all defensive schemes.

"Obviously, we haven't been very good — we're last in the league," Kubiak said. "We've played two good defensive football teams. You have to give them a lot of credit, but bottom line, we haven't created enough space for Steve or Chris (Brown) or whoever it is. We've got to stay committed to it and be willing to grind it out until some big plays come and it gets back on track — none more important than doing it this week.""