The biggest loss the Houston Texans suffered Sunday night wasn’t their 42-34 defeat against the Kansas City Chiefs. Instead, it was the left leg tibial plateau fracture star defensive end J.J. Watt suffered during the Chiefs’ first drive, which is going to end his season. Here’s video of how Watt was hurt on a non-contact injury.
https://twitter.com/12upSport/status/917192353491939328
And a look at the on-field treatment he got:
re: jj watt
non-contact knee injury, pain, unable to weight bear. medical staff testing ACL and patella… not looking good.#NFL #texans pic.twitter.com/xI7JeFe1ow— christina le (she/her) (@yegphysio) October 9, 2017
Watt was helped off the field to a medical tent, then to the locker room and then to an ambulance. Texans’ linebacker Whitney Mercilus was also hurt on that drive, leaving the game with a chest injury. As NFL.com’s Jeremy Bergman writes, that’s a big blow for the Houston defense:
Alongside Jadeveon Clowney, Watt and Mercilus made up one of, if not, the league’s most feared pass-rushing triumvirates. Though he did not register a sack in his first four games of the season, Watt led all Houston defenders entering Sunday night in total pressures (11) and pressure percentage (9.7 percent); Mercilus was fourth with three pressures.
The Houston offense continued to show some progress, with rookie quarterback DeShaun Watson throwing for 261 yards and five touchdowns (albeit with just 16 completions on 31 attempts, and one of those touchdowns coming in complete garbage time at the end of the game). Watson also ran three times for 31 yards. And he looks to be settling in pretty well. But the Texans are now 2-3, tied with the Tennessee Titans and the Indianapolis Colts for second in the AFC South (behind the 3-2 Jacksonville Jaguars). And they’ve certainly lost one key part of their defense in Watt and potentially another one in Mercilus. We’ll see how they’re able to adjust, but that definitely seems problematic for them.
[NFL.com]
