Houston The head coach DeMeco Ryans is facing a Texans injury massacre, with 23 players under doubt for their crucial week 10 clash against the in-form Bengals.
Eleven players did not practice including first round pick and defensive end Will Anderson, in what will be worrying signs for the play-off hunting Texans.
The Texans are trending in the right directions with quarterback C.J. Stroud helping the team to a sensational week 9 win over the Buccaneers.
The Texans will be without five key offensive players with running back Dameon Pierce suffering an ankle injury.
Wide receivers John Metchie III and Robert Woods are also on the sidelines while offensive tackles Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard are suffering from knee injuries.
Ryans was philosophical, telling reporters via transcript, “We go through the same process, and things happen. That’s life. Things don’t go your way all the time, so I continue to smile through it, and we’re going to have our best guys out there.”
The beleaguered coach is definitely ahead of the crucial game, continuing, “whoever is available, we’re going to have our best guys out there and we’re going to play the Texan brand of football.”
The Texans lie second in the AFC South, with a 4-4 record while the Bengals are bottom of the fiercely competitive AFC North, going 5-3.
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Is C.J. NFL’s Best? Texans Rookie Earns Offensive Player Award
The only thing surprising about Houston Texans rookie C.J. Stroud’s record-setting performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was that he hadn’t done it before. From the very day he was drafted, Stroud had dealt with adversity. He wasn’t believed to be the best option for the Carolina Panthers, nor the Texans. The narrative around him was simple: he wasn’t the guy. He couldn’t be.
Those pushing it even went as far as to promote the fact that his IQ score was lower than that of his competition — a rather interesting way to determine on-field talent. Stroud duly noted that, and despite facing harsh criticism from all over, he remained poised, calm and most of all, confident. “I’m a football player. … not an S2 taker,” Stroud said of his reported low IQ-determining test scores. “I know who I am, and I know what I can do on that field. And I’ll do that at the next level.” Safe to say, the rookie has done just that in Houston. In fact, he has taken his game to the next level. First, he willed himself to the top of the rookie leaderboards for all-time passing in a single game. Now, he sits atop the AFC’s offensive talent leaderboard.
The Texans rookie put on a show, no doubt, but the selection makes his record-setting day even more special. Stroud finished the game with 470 passing yards and five touchdowns on an over 70 percent completion percentage — the latter stat of which Ryans said is one of the rookie’s biggest strong suit.
