The month of October is often referred to as Spooky Season, and for the Houston Texans, it has been a month full of frights that have turned one of the AFC’s top contenders into a skeleton crew… pun intended. Veteran safety Jimmie Ward and starting linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair have both been out for three weeks with a pair of knee injuries. Stefon Diggs tore his ACL last Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, and Nico Collins has been on the IR since October 9th.
The hits just kept coming on Thursday night when budding star linebacker Will Anderson Jr. left the Texans’ game against the New York Jets with an ankle injury. There’s optimism it’s nothing too serious, but on the other side of the ball, the Texans got dealt a season-ending injury to a key piece along the offensive line.
Per NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, Texans starting guard Kenyon Green is expected to be out for the remainder of the year with a shoulder injury he suffered in the loss to the Jets on Thursday night.
The injury to Kenyon Green is even more problematic, considering it was a shoulder injury that kept him sidelined for the entire 2023 season. The Texans used the 15th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft on Green after he had two consecutive All-American seasons at Texas A&M, and even though Green has had his struggles throughout his young NFL career, the fact that this injury chips away at the depth along Houston’s offensive line is troublesome.
Can injury-plagued Texans hang on to lead in the AFC South?
There’s good news and bad news if you’re a fan of the Houston Texans… the good news is Houston is already 3-0 in the AFC South, with two of those wins coming against the Indianapolis Colts. There won’t be much resistance for the Texans as they look to claim a division title for a second straight year.
The bad news is a brutal schedule still awaits. The Detroit Lions come to Houston next Sunday with a back-to-back against the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens over a five-day span in December.
Now, when Houston gets Nico Collins back, the offense should begin to click, and there’s optimism within the organization that the man who led the league in receiving yards at the time of his injury will be back on the field for their Week 10 matchup with the Lions. But make no mistake… with the injuries piling up, the days where the Texans can sneak up on the rest of the NFL are over.
