Former Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith suffers season-ending injury

Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith suffered a season-ending injury against the Houston Texans on Sunday when he broke his leg.

Alex Smith was enjoying a successful new chapter with the Washington Redskins through two-thirds of his first season with the team. Unfortunately, things took a nasty turn in Week 11 when a sack by J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans resulted in a broken leg in two places for the former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback.

Smith will need immediate surgery for a broken fibula and tibia suffered during the sack, a play that took out the Washington quarterback in a fashion that was eerily similar to Redskins legend Joe Theismann.

Smith became the Redskins new starting quarterback in a game of offseason musical chairs at the position that saw former Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins take a nice payday to switch to the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings saw former starter Case Keenum move to the Denver Broncos, the rival of the Chiefs, who were ready to jettison Smith after drafting Patrick Mahomes in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Smith had teamed with head coach Andy Reid to return the Chiefs to their winning ways and had delivered the team to the postseason in four of his five years in Kansas City. Under his leadership, the Chiefs also won two consecutive AFC West titles for the first time in franchise history, and Smith enjoyed his best year statistically speaking in his walk year in K.C.

For the Redskins in 2018. Smith had led them to a 6-3 record overall in the NFC East. He’s completed over 64 percent of his passes so far this season with 10 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions through nine games. However, his performance against the Texans was already forgettable with 2 INTs on the day before going down with the season-ending injury.

Colt McCoy now takes over for Washington as the presumed starter, while Smith must begin the mental and physical work of rehabbing from such a devastating injury.