Jalen Pitre injury: Texans lose defensive chess piece against Titans

Injuries are again altering the Houston Texans plans with Jalen Pitre suffering a shoulder injury.
Jalen Pitre, Houston Texans
Jalen Pitre, Houston Texans / Perry Knotts/GettyImages
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A 17-7 lead for the Tennessee Titans in Week 12 was gone in the blink of an eye with the Houston Texans scoring 10 unanswered points.

They had a five-yard touchdown from Nico Collins that got them back into the game and Ka'imi Fairbairn kicked a field goal to tire it up. The touchdown for Collins was set up by a 39-yarder from Tank Dell and Collins pulled in a 56-yarder to put them in range for the field goal.

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While all of that is great, there's some bad news as well. Houston lost one of their key defenders as safety Jalen Pitre left the game with a shoulder injury.

His return is questionable.

Pitre has been a sensational player for Houston. While he's listed as a safety, he plays all over the field.

He's been their slot corner for the majority of the season but also plays like a hybrid linebacker. With him out, the Texans are going to ask Eric Murray and Jimmie Ward to split duties as slot corners.

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The Texans defense has given up a lot of yardage both on the ground and through the air, but Will Anderson, Jr. and Danielle Hunter have kept them in the game. They've each recorded multiple sacks, keeping their team in the game. As a whole, the defense has seven sacks with Hunter's 2.5 leading the way.

UPDATE: Pitre has been downgraded to OUT.

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