The Houston Texans were unable to rely on a couple of instrumental players after they suffered an injuries vs. the New York Giants in Week 3.
The Houston Texans started reserve offensive lineman Greg Mancz as their left guard after it was announced that starting left guard Senio Kelemete would be unable to play against the New York Giants due to a knee injury.
Houston missed Kelemete as the Giants were able to get to quarterback Deshaun Watson with ease. Watson is taking too many hits, some are self-inflicted, but they could still lead him to miss games this season.
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Wide receiver Bruce Ellington also missed the majority of the game after suffering a hamstring injury early in the first quarter of the game. The Texans might be shorthanded at wide receiver since Keke Coutee and Sammie Coates have been inactive in the first three games due to injury. Every wide receiver outside of rookie Vyncint Smith is dealing with some sort of hamstring injury nearly every week this season.
The Texans could be without a slot receiver if Coutee and Ellington aren’t ready to go for Week 4, but could decide to sign a player to address the need or they could rotate Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins at the slot. Smith could play on the outside where he has been more comfortable through preseason and training camp.
Houston will have to be creative with injuries occurring to the starters since they are already scarce on several positions in their depth chart. The Texans have offensive lineman Kyle Fuller, Chad Slade and wide receiver Jester Weah as possible options if they decide to bring in a player with a certain familiarity of the team and the structure of the playbook.
Promoting a defensive player like Andre Chachere, Breon Borders or Mike Tyson shouldn’t be out of the question either with the instability at the second cornerback position across from Jonathan Joseph.
#Texans snap counts vs NYG:
— Adam Wexler (@AdamJWexler) September 24, 2018
Notes: Ellington 3 snaps before hamstring injury. Wright played 65% of snaps, Reid played 34%. pic.twitter.com/V2E0khyKJv
Aaron Colvin started as the second boundary cornerback, but he has looked well playing in the slot. The Texans decided to try Colvin on the outside after deciding that Kareem Jackson was playing well at safety. There is a lot of uncertainty at this position with Kayvon Webster still recovering from his Achilles injury and the Texans signing Shareece Wright from the street.
The Texans will have a lot of decisions to make as they travel to Lucas Oil Stadium to play the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4.