Texans right tackle Derek Newton was back at practice on Wednesday and appears to be on track to play against the Colts on Sunday.

“He’s doing much better,” head coach Gary Kubiak said. “Today’s his best day. He’s back at practice, like I said, it was light. I’ll feel much better about him going through tomorrow. He’s definitely headed toward being ready to go.”

In Newton’s absence, Ryan Harris has filled in and struggled some. In fact, the right line has been a struggle throughout the season.

While Newton was back at practice, punter Donnie Jones (knee), linebacker Darryl Sharpton (toe), corner Alan Ball (foot) and corner Brooks Reed (groin) did not practice.

Jones suffered a knee contusion on his plant leg in the game on Monday but keeping him out of the light practice was a precautionary measure.

“I think if we needed him to punt today, he’d punt, but we rested him,” Kubiak said.

Reed is still out with a pretty significant groin injury. Kubiak said the team knows it’ll have Reed back at some point, they’re just not sure when that will be.

“He’s working with the trainers,” Kubiak said of Reed. “He’s running. He’s doing pretty darn good.”  

Kubiak said the players who were slightly injured heading into Monday’s game (Johnathan Joseph, Bradie James) didn’t suffer any setbacks.