Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs suffered a right knee injury that was attended to by trainers after he grabbed his knee on a noncontact play. He was ruled out for the remainder of a 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium.
Diggs will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging exam to determine the severity and nature of the injury. There’s a high level of concern for Diggs from teammates and several others close to the situation as they fear he’s suffered a potential season-ending injury.
“It’s unfortunate to see Stef go down there,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said after the game. “He’s still being evaluated for a knee. We’ll find out further information as the week goes on.”
Voted a team captain in balloting from his teammates, Diggs has established himself as a leader in the locker room. The players are taking the injury hard.
It’s unclear how the Texans will handle the situation if Diggs is out on a long-term basis. They could explore potential trade scenarios. There aren’t a lot of accomplished free agents available other than Michael Thomas, who battled injuries during his time with the New Orleans Saints.
‘We don’t like to see our players go down at all,” said Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, whose locker is a few down from Diggs. “Hopefully, he’s good. We hate to see our brothers fall. We put so much into this game, you hate to see it. It happens.”
Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowl selection obtained this offseason from the Buffalo Bills in a trade, headed directly to the locker room as he walked under his own power.
“Prayers go out to Stef,” Texans Pro Bowl quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “You know him, you know God doesn’t make any mistakes. So, I hope he’s okay. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I’m praying for him and hoping that he starts to feel better.”
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Diggs motioned to fans and appeared to be in good spirits. It’s unclear what the nature or severity of the injury is, but they’ll check him for everything from a torn anterior cruciate ligament to lateral collateral ligament to his meniscus.
Diggs caught five passes for 81 yards, including a 49-yard reception, on nine targets, for one of his bigger games since joining the defending AFC South champions.
“I didn’t really see what happened,” running back Joe Mixon said. “I just saw my brother down. That’s all I really seen. I’ll check up on him and see how he’s doing no matter what and try to lift his spirits. We’re in this together. Just check up on him and see how he’s doing.”
With Nico Collins out one more game Thursday against the New York Jets with sources expecting him back from a hamstring injury by a Nov. 10 game against the Detroit Lions following a speedy recovery, Diggs’ injury represents a major setback for the Texans.
Diggs leads the Texans with 47 catches and ranks second to Collins with 496 yards and is tied with him with three touchdown catches. He was on pace for 100 catches and 1,000 yards before this injury that will undoubtedly sideline him indefinitely.
Without Diggs and Collins, the Texans’ top wide receivers are Tank Dell, Xavier Hutchinson, Robert Woods and John Metchie III.
Dell caught four passes for 35 yards on four targets, including a touchdown, as he bounced back from a zero catch game against the Green Bay Packers. Tight end Dalton Schultz caught four passes for 52 yards on six targets. Running back Joe Mixon had four catches for 32 yards. Metchie had three catches for 29 yards, Woods had two catches for 18 yards and Hutchinson had a diving 19-yard reception.
“I’ve been praying already for him that he gets back right,” Dell said of Diggs’ injury. “I shot him a text and called him. Man, that’s the name of the game. That’s my brother. I just pray that whatever happened that it’s something minor and nothing crazy and he can get back out there.”
The Texans are 6-2 and still legitimately haven’t played their best football yet.
“We’re all right,” Dell said. “We all know it can be way better. We know what we’re capable of. I know we harp on this every week in these interviews, but the sky is the limit for this team. We got to keep putting all the pieces together.”
Dell caught seven touchdowns as a rookie before breaking his fibula. After recovering from that injury, the former third-round draft pick from the University of Houston suffered a gunshot wound as an innocent bystander in a mass shooting at a party in his home state of Florida. He made another full recovery, but he’s off to a slow start to his second NFL season.
Dell has 24 catches for 229 yards and two touchdowns through eight games, averaging 9.5 yards per catch with a long reception of 23 yards.
Dell hasn’t produced as well as he did in his rookie year, when he was on pace for 1,205 yards before breaking his leg in December. Last year he averaged 70 receiving yards per game up until Week 13, but this season he’s averaging just 32 yards. He scored his second touchdown in the Texans’ win Sunday against the Colts and finished with 35 yards.
“Yeah, I think he had a great mindset coming into the week, just getting better, owning his opportunities, and I thought he did a great job of that,” Pro Bowl quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “He ran a lot of good routes today. Me and him are really close. We just want to feed off one another. It was good just to get our mojo back going. I’m just super proud of him, what he’s been able to do and he’s going to have to step up really big for us.”
Aaron Wilson is a contributor to Sports Talk 790
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