Maroney's injury is torn rib cartilage

FOXBOROUGH -- Rookie running back Laurence Maroney, who was knocked out of the Patriots' win over the Lions Dec. 3 and missed last week's loss to the Dolphins, has been sidelined because of torn rib cartilage, according to a league source.

Speaking with Houston reporters last week, coach Bill Belichick indicated Maroney's injury isn't season-ending.

"If it was that, then at this point a player like that we'd probably put him on injured reserve," Belichick said. "I think it's something that he's certainly making good progress. How quickly he'll be able to come back I'm not sure exactly, but he's doing a lot better now than he was a couple of days ago. He's doing a lot better over the weekend than he was in the middle of the week, so he's definitely headed in the right direction."

That's good news for the Patriots, who missed the playmaking ability of Maroney in the 21-0 loss in Miami. Maroney's 812 yards from scrimmage lead the team. He is listed as questionable for today's game, giving him a 50-50 chance of suiting up, and is one of 10 players listed as questionable, a group that includes tight end Benjamin Watson (knee) and nose tackle Vince Wilfork (ankle). All three players were limited in practice in the days leading up to the game.

Although the outcome was all but decided, cornerback Ellis Hobbs provided one highlight last Sunday when he returned a late fourth-quarter kickoff 51 yards. The return was Hobbs's first of the season. After being bumped from the starting lineup at cornerback by Chad Scott last week, Hobbs said he'd jump on the chance to return more kickoffs.

"I just want to be on the field and playing, [doing] whatever I can do to help the team," he said. "It wouldn't hurt if I could get in there and argue my point a little bit. I think I argued the point on Sunday."

Maroney has been the Patriots' top kickoff returner (27 for a 28.7-yard average). If he doesn't play, that could put Hobbs in the mix along with Kevin Faulk, the team's other primary returner.

Former Packers coach Mike Sherman, a native of Northborough, returns to the area today as the Texans' assistant head coach/offense. Sherman was fired by the Packers after last season, ending his six-year run in Green Bay.

"I don't know what I would have done without him," said first-year Texans coach Gary Kubiak, who had coached with Sherman at Texas A&M in the early 1990s. "Here's a guy in the situation that he went through and the job that he did in Green Bay was second to none. Mike didn't have to be coaching this year. He chose to come here and fight this fight with us and help us try to get this thing going. He's done a great job with those young guys up front, as many problems as we've had up front injury-wise, the young players, he's held them together and had some of those young players going in the right direction.

"Mike's a big-time coach and an even better person. I know he won't be here very long. He should be a head coach in this league, and I know he will be again real soon."

Belichick has been concerned with the Texans' return units, citing the team's performance against the Raiders two weeks ago, when Jerome Mathis had an 87-yard kickoff return and Dexter Wynn a 58-yard punt return, which led to 10 points in a 23-14 win. "One of the big challenges in this game for us is going to be special teams," said Belichick, adding that the Texans also have strong coverage units. With those special teams in mind, the Patriots were considering the addition of safety Guss Scott -- who played five games for the Texans earlier this season -- to the active roster . . . Kubiak reflected on his preparations for the 2000 draft, when he was Broncos' offensive coordinator, and said Denver had quarterback Tom Brady "like everybody else, ranked as a fifth- or sixth-round pick." It's yet another reminder of how the draft is in many ways a crapshoot. "He's just been amazing," Kubiak said. "Some guys, they just have got something to them that you just don't know." . . . Special teams captain Larry Izzo told Houston reporters last week that he'd consider going into coaching when his playing career is over, and that one possibility he'd relish would be doing so at his alma mater, Rice University in Houston . . . The Texans held fourth-quarter leads in three of their last four games, but only won one.

Christopher L. Gasper of the Globe staff contributed to this report.