Texans RB Ben Tate missed practice Monday with a hamstring injury. (US Presswire)

The Houston Texans were back at practice Monday after taking time off on their bye week. There were three players who missed practice, most notably RB Ben Tate who sat out with a hamstring injury.

Tate has been slowed by a few injuries this year, including a toe injury that forced him to miss the team’s Monday night game at the Jets on Oct. 8. Coach Gary Kubiak told reporters Monday that Tate could miss Wednesday’s practice as well, but he was not ready to discuss his availability for Sunday’s game against Buffalo.

“My biggest level of concern with Tate is just keeping him on the field,” Kubiak said. “It seems like it’s been one thing after another. If it’s not the toe, the hamstring. This has been going on for a few years. We need him. He’s very important to getting Arian [Foster] rest, our success as a football team, but yet he’s really struggled to stay on the field.”

The Texans were also without ILB Darryl Sharpton, who remains on the PUP list with a quadriceps injury. Kubiak said that Sharpton is “very, very close to going on the field.”

Houston has until Nov. 7 to get Sharpton back on the practice field and then three more weeks once he begins practicing before the Texans have to decide whether to activate him or keep him on the PUP list for the rest of the season.

“We’re not going to put him out there until we’re ready to find out if he’s ready to go and help us actively,” Kubiak said. “We don’t feel that way right now. How we’ll feel Wednesday? I don’t know, but not yet. We have not turned him loose yet.”

NT Shaun Cody was also held out of practice for what Kubiak called a “maintenance” issue.

Quick Hits

  • DE Antonio Smith said he is looking forward to seeing how Bills DE Mario Williams -- the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft by the Texans -- responds to playing against his old team. “The one thing you don’t account for is the control of all the different emotions you get in the game like this, coming back, going back, playing against the team you used to be with, playing against guys that you’re friends with,” Smith said. “You can’t really be mean and aggressive and do stuff that you normally would do.”
  • The Texans signed NT Terrell McClain to the active roster. McClain was a third round pick by the Panthers out of South Florida in 2011. He had 19 tackles and one sack in 12 games for Carolina last season and spent some time this season with New England. McClain replaces DE David Hunter, who was placed on injured reserve with a toe injury last week.

Follow Texans blogger Sean Bielawski on Twitter, @CBSTexans.