The Houston Texans will be without J.J. Watt for the rest of Week 5 and maybe more, says NFL analyst Adam Schefter.
The Houston Texans will be without their best defender, and arguably the NFL’s best defender, for teh rest of the 2017 season after watching star defensive end J.J. Watt go down with an injury that ended up getting him carted off to the team’s locker room early in the first quarter on Sunday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs.
And now Texans DL JJ Watt is being carted off to the locker room. Got injured on the opening drive of the game...
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 9, 2017
From there the news only got worse. Watt was taken away immediately by an ambulance and the Texans soon announced that the worst case scenario had come true.
#Texans JJ Watt, who the team just announced has a tibial plateau fracture, is out for the season, source said. Another year ended on IR.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 9, 2017
Watt is a four-time All-Pro and Pro Bowler who has 76 career sacks who has suffered with severe injury issues in recent years. This year, he’d started all four games in a comeback after only playing in 3 games last season, although he’s yet to garner a single sack in 2017. So far this year, he has 13 total tackles with 2 passes defended and serves as a game-changing force that opponents must game plan for.
The Texans are also without Whitney Mercilus among the defensive front seven, which means two of their best pass rushers and overall forces in terms of tackles for loss are now out of the game and beyond. Jadeveon Clowney will need to step up for the Texans, who will likely need some serious offensive firepower to overcome the visiting Chiefs.
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The loss of Watt for the game means Carlos Watkins and Christian Covington need to make good on their potential and turn in impact snaps for the Texans.