HOUSTON -- At the end of the 2017 season, Lamar Miller stood in the middle of the Houston Texans' locker room and vowed to take a step forward during the offseason after the worst year of his NFL career.

Last year, Miller's second with the Texans, he averaged just 3.7 yards per carry, which ranked tied for 33rd in the NFL. So during the offseason, he focused on losing some weight and becoming a more decisive runner.

Just 27 and in his seventh NFL season, Miller spent time training during the offseason with fellow former University of Miami standout Frank Gore, who is a perhaps a future Hall of Fame running back. Gore, who is from the same area of Miami as Miller, has taught the Texans running back the importance of taking care of his body, and how losing a few pounds can help keep him an effective running back.

"Coming into my rookie year, him just teaching me some things about how to take care of your body -- the little things to stay in this league for a long time. So that's a guy that I always communicate with throughout the week and just stay in touch," Miller said. "He told me, 'Once you get older in the league, you should drop a couple pounds.' They say once you get older, you lose your speed.

"So just hearing it from a guy who's been playing in the league for 13, 14 years -- I just listen and just try to do the right things."

Miller, who split time with then-rookie D'Onta Foreman and Alfred Blue last season, said he thinks he has "been doing all right" this season.

Miller has run for 371 yards and a touchdown on 95 carries and has 11 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. The Texans rank 15th in the NFL in rushing yards per game, averaging 113.7 yards per game on the ground.

"I feel like I still can improve on some things," Miller said. "One of the things I tried to focus on this offseason was to be decisive. And I think so far, being decisive, just trusting my offensive linemen, once I see the crease, just try to hit it."

The Texans' running game had a strong start to the season. Despite their 0-2 record, Houston led the NFL in rushing yards per game, but the ground game then started struggling, starting in Week 3 when the Texans had to essentially abandon the run in the second half because the group never got into a rhythm. In that loss to the Giants, Miller had just 10 yards on 10 carries. He did not top 50 rushing yards either of the next two weeks.

But in the Texans' Week 7 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Miller led Houston to one of its best rushing games of the season with 100 yards and a touchdown on 22 attempts -- his first 100-yard rushing game since Dec. 11, 2016. According to ESPN Stats & Information tracking, Miller gained 66 of those yards before initial contact, and he also gained at least 5 yards before contact on seven different rush attempts, including his 5-yard rushing touchdown, when he went untouched.

The veteran said “it would be big” to build off of the success he had against the Jaguars.

"I was in a drought for a while," he said, "so [100 rushing yards is] one thing that I try and get. But just to improve on that would be great."

The Texans need that continued success from Miller, especially while Foreman continues to recover from a torn Achilles. Foreman suffered the injury last season in late November and has been on the physically unable to perform list since the beginning of training camp. He is eligible to be added to the active roster once the Texans elect to give him the OK to start practicing again, but he would have to be activated within the 21-day window once that happens.

Texans coach Bill O'Brien has talked often about how vital it is to get the running game going, because if not, it makes it things tougher on quarterback Deshaun Watson.

"I'm not saying it begins and ends with the running game, but I do think that helps a lot of things," O'Brien said. "When you can establish the line of scrimmage, it really opens up many things. Meaning, maybe they have to bring an extra guy down in there to defend the run, or maybe it helps your play-action.

"We've found it difficult to score points at times this year, but I think when we run the ball, we have a better chance."

Added Watson: "It just helped them [the Jaguars] open up, you know. They bring their safeties up in the box … so we pretty much had an eight-man box, so we can throw the ball one-on-one."

Miller, who started his career with the Dolphins before signing a four-year, $26 million contract with the Texans in 2016, had the best game of his career against Houston during his final season in Miami. In Week 7 of the 2015 season, Miller had 236 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. He said while he approaches every game the same, he "of course" wants to play well "because I played there and I'm from there."

Miller has a good opportunity to continue his solid play on Thursday night against Miami. The Dolphins enter Week 8 allowing an average of 136.7 rushing yards per game, the fourth most in the NFL.

"Lamar's obviously a great running back and we love blocking for him," center Nick Martin said. "Even this past game [in Jacksonville], the way he was hitting the holes and his cuts, it was fun to watch. When we're blocking we don't really get to see all of it, we just see the end result and where he goes, but on film, it seems like what he was able to do was really cool."