Just a few days ago, the Houston Texans came away with a big win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 5. One of the day's most exciting plays came on a 67-yard bomb launched by quarterback C.J. STroud and caught by wide receiver Nico Collins for a score.
Following the play, though, Collins was injured. After the game, it was believed Collins would only be "day to day" with a hamstring.
The next day, an update on his hamstring injury came out that seemed a bit worse than originally anticipated. Collins would now be labeled as "week to week" with his hamstring issue. Suddenly, worry began to creep in. Hamstirng injuries are ones that are tough to predict and can linger for quite some time.
And then, Wednesday morning hit, and things took a drastic turn for the worse.
Not only was Collins set to potentially miss multiple weeks, but the Texans opted to place him on injured reserve, meaning he will now be out a minimum of four games.
The #Texans have placed WR Nico Collins, the NFL's leading receiver on Injured Reserve. He's out four games.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 9, 2024
The NFL's leading receiver with 567 yards, Collins will now have to wait a while before coming back and re-entering the race. Now, it will be on the shoulders of players like Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to do the heavy lifting.
Stepping up, though, could be players like Xavier Hutchinson or John Metchie III. Don't forget about Robert Woods, too.
There is a silver lining in the timing of Nico Collins' injury
Not that there is ever a good time for an injury like this one, but the positive here is the fact that three of Houston's next four games are against bottom-10 pass defenses.
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The Texans will face the Patriots, Packers, Colts and Jets in their next four weeks, respectively.
The Patriots, specifically rank 25th against the pass through Week 5, giving up an average of 239.0 yards per game. New England just allowed 188 passing yards to Tyler Huntley in his first-ever start with Miami last week, and previously gave up just short of 300 yards to both Brock Purdy and Aaron Rodgers.
Things still bode well for Stroud against the Patriots.
Meanwhile, the Packers (23rd) and Colts (29th) have also struggled against the pass, making these next three games a little more feasible for Stroud through the air, especially without Collins on the field.
Now, by the time they get to that fourth game without Collins and take on the Jets, that's when it'll be a tougher outing as New York boasts the second-best pass defense in the league. Hopefully though, by then, Houston has been able to sustain their production through the air enough to come away at least 2-1 in the three games without Collins.