Texans lose Mathis up to 3 months

Houston Texans kick returner Jerome Mathis will undergo surgery Friday to repair a broken left foot. Mathis, 22, missed workouts Wednesday and Thursday because of a fractured venicular bone, a tiny bone at the top of the foot. He will be operated on by Texans orthopedist Dr. Tom Clanton and likely miss 8-12 weeks. "It's something that could fall into the chronic category," Texans head trainer Kevin Bastin said. "But he might have done it at the Pro Bowl, too. "He was running straight ahead in all the off-season stuff and doing fine, but, when we started running and cutting and doing other stuff, it wasn't responding and that prompted us to do a further study of it." Mathis was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie last season, electrifying Texans fans by finishing second in the NFL with a 28.6 average on kickoff returns. Mathis returned 54 kickoffs for 1,542 yards and two touchdowns as well as 12 punts for 68 yards. He also caught five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. "Since Jerome has come back from the Pro Bowl, he has struggled with his ankle," Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said. "We took some time off, rehabbed it, did everything we could [and] it was making progress. "Jerome had an accident along the way, but he came out for practice. It continued to bother him and we took an extensive look at it last week and, unfortunately, we found out what it was a stress fracture." Mathis was drafted out of Hampton in the fourth round (114th overall) in 2005.