Matt Schaub is progressing well from season-ending Lisfranc surgery on his right foot, but the healing process has not been without inconveniences.
For one, the Texans quarterback can't pass through your run-of-the-mill airport scanner without setting off alarms, thanks to the heavy concentration of metal buried in his mid-foot area. That nuisance will be tempered when a second procedure next month leaves only a small screw below the skin.
From there, it's a matter of how quickly Schaub can get back into playing shape. He hasn't played since Week 10 against the Bucs, when 300-pound behemoth Albert Haynesworth stepped on him (sounds awful, admittedly), but Schaub told the Houston Chronicle that he's ahead of schedule, even if football's still a ways off.
"It's going great," Schaub said. "As of today (Feb. 29), we're 13 weeks from surgery, and things are progressing really well. We're really pleased. I'm a little ahead of the game. It's a matter of strengthening and making sure everything stays to form in there with the hardware in my foot."
Schaub's injury would leave normal men quivering indefinitely, and those men don't have to fight their way back to a level of athleticism required of an NFL quarterback. Schaub was asked if a desk jockey -- some stockbroker-type -- would be well enough at this stage to do his job?
"Is that a stockbroker who tries to work out hard and consistently," he said, "or a stockbroker who sits behind a desk all day? For just moving around, walking, I'm fine. No pain."