PHILADELPHIA -- The Eagles face the Houston Texans Sunday, a team that practically demands the kind of defensive treatment opponents have been using on the Eagles this season.

Eagles opponents have loaded up the box to stop LeSean McCoy, daring quarterback Nick Foles to beat them. The only team that didn't approach the Eagles that way, the New York Giants, surrendered McCoy's only 100-yard game of the season and lost, 27-0.

Arian Foster, Houston's running back, has only one game with less than 100 rushing yards. That was the Texans' loss to Buffalo, who held Foster to 6 yards on eight carries. The Eagles have been pretty solid against the run this season, and they will need to dedicate themselves to stopping Foster. In effect, they must dare quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to beat them.

"The game plan is always the same, to stop the run," linebacker Connor Barwin said. "Make it a one-dimensional game. But (Foster) is playing as good as any running back in the league right now."

Foster has rushed for 766 yards this season, second in the NFL behind Dallas Cowboys back DeMarco Murray. Foster has played very well for a man who underwent surgery on his back.

"Once Arian is healthy, he's a top five back in the league," Eagles linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. "He's proven that. They're still running that stretch play, which he's built for. He looks really healthy on film. He looks like he's back to his old self."

Barwin, like Ryans a former Texan, developed a lot of respect for Foster.

"The guy works, the guy loves football, he was a great teammate when I was there," Barwin said. "It sucks to see a guy have back surgery. But he battled back from two back surgeries. He's playing at an extremely high level. He's going to be a huge challenge for us."

The stretch play is a cornerstone of Washington's offense. The Eagles held Washington to 84 yards on 28 carries, a 3.0-yard average, in September.

"They run a true zone stretch," Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said of the Texans. "They've got two or three runs that they run really, really well, over and over again. Obviously, Foster is a back, you don't really need to get him much room. They've been doing that for so long, they're really good at it. Foster's tough to tackle."