Down five starters heading into their Week 10 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Houston Texans were already behind the eight-ball at the time of kickoff in a must-win matchup with their AFC South foe. But less than a quarter and a half into the game, the number of starters the Texans were playing without increased by one when safety M.J. Stewart went down during a Travis Etienne run.
Stewart, who stepped into the starting job after the Texans moved on from controversial defensive back CJ Gardner-Johnson -- now playing fantastic football for the surging Chicago Bears -- back in September, couldn't pick himself up off the turf after the play was over, and not long after, a medical cart drove Stewart and his air-casted leg off the field and into the tunnel.
Any time this is the final result of a play, you know the prognosis isn't going to be too promising, and that proved to be the case this time around too. Per Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 Houston, Stewart suffered a torn quadriceps on the play and will soon undergo season-ending surgery.
The 30-year-old defensive back who spent time with Tampa Bay and Cleveland before arriving in Houston ahead of the 2022 season was on track to have the most productive campaign of his eight-year NFL career before going down on Sunday afternoon. Stewart had logged 25 tackles, 2 passes defended and 1 forced fumble this season in nine appearances and just four starts.
Assuming Jalen Pitre is able to return soon from the concussion that kept him out of the come-from-behind 36-29 win over Jacksonville, the Texans secondary is still in solid shape even without Stewart. Behind the play of Pitre, Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter and Calen Bullock, Houston's secondary is without question one of the best in the National Football League, even if it means their fifth starter in the back-end is something of a question mark.