Texans need this breakout star candidate to step up in Week 9

The Houston Texans officially swept the Indianapolis Colts this season. However, there was a significant loss sustained during the victory in Sunday's game.

Houston lost one of its top offseason acquisitions, Stefon Diggs, to a torn ACL.

The offense, already down its top receiver, Nico Collins, for at least this week due to his stint on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, will turn to Tank Dell, the third head of the three-headed monster formed this year.

Tank Dell will need to step up as the top receiver this week

The injury bug bit the top two Texans wide receivers, leaving the sophomore Dell as the de facto top guy for Houston's game in Week 9.

Up to this point in the season, Dell has looked ghastly in comparison to his rookie numbers. The receiver has just 24 receptions for 229 yards. Through his first eight games in the NFL, Dell had 28 catches for 454 yards.

However, he became the third option this year, as opposed to the second he was last season. With that shift came lower statistics and less valuable catches and looks compared to the ones Collins and Diggs have had with their spots higher on the depth chart.

That said, this is the week for Dell to explode. He has been the second target in the offense for the prior three weeks. Dell's average over the first eight games of his career was 56 yards, and he went for over 100 yards twice in that timeframe. His season-high this year is 57 yards in the Patriots game.

The problem? Dell has been the second option in the passing offense (again) for the last three weeks now. Breaking his average from last season just once is a rough look. Doing it by just one yard is brutal. Having an average of 31 yards per game as the second option this year is abysmal.

The offense is clearly struggling without Collins, but Dell needs to prove his spot right now or risk the Texans bringing in someone over him in free agency (again) or the draft, as he trends in the opposite direction of where everyone thought he would.

This game could be the turning point in his career. Dell needs to step up as Houston's top pass catcher.

The game is set for Halloween night on a Thursday showdown with the lowly New York Jets. If Dell fails to step up, the Texans could be in for a spook for the rest of the season as the Colts are still on the team's heels and just switched to Joe Flacco at quarterback, per Adam Schefter. A Houston loss on Thursday could leave the door open for Indianapolis in the AFC South.