HOUSTON – Texans safety Jalen Pitre returned to practice Wednesday after recovering from a bruised lung that sidelined him for the past two games.
The team captain is slated to return to the lineup for a home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was limited in practice.
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Pitre is a team captain who led the Texans with 147 tackles and five interceptions as a rookie last season. The Texans exercised caution with the Stafford graduate, a second-round draft pick and former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year at Baylor.
“It’s good having Jalen back out at practice today,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He brings great energy to our team, whether he’s practicing, whether he’s on the sideline, Jalen is just the epitome of what leadership looks like. He brings it every single day, so we’re happy to have him back out there.”
Texans veteran offensive tackle Tytus Howard is doing great in his recovery after breaking his hand during training camp in two places, undergoing surgery that involved having metal hardware inserted to aid the healing process and is on track to be activated from injured reserve next week, according to league sources.
Barring any unexpected snag, Howard should return to practice next week in advance of a road game against the Atlanta Falcons, per sources. Howard has maintained his usual exercise routine and has been attending practices and meetings. Whether the Texans have him play immediately against Atlanta is undecided, per sources.
George Fant has done a solid job at right tackle for three games for the Texans. When Howard returns, he could step back into his natural right tackle spot. Howard also has a background at left tackle and lined up there in the past when Pro Bowl left offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil was sidelined with a thumb ligament injury two seasons ago and was placed on injured reserve. Now, Tunsil is dealing with a painful knee injury that has kept him out of the past two games and out of practice Wednesday along with left tackle Josh Jones. Jones has a hand injury and is expected to be out Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, per league sources. Tunsil is currently trending toward missing the game, too, per sources.
“With Laremy, we’ll see where he is as we go throughout the week,” Ryans said. “We’ll see where he is towards the end of the week.”
And that would give the Texans the options of plugging in Austin Deculus at left tackle where he has practiced, or shifting over Fant to left tackle where he has a considerable amount of experience or possibly elevating Geron Christian from the practice squad and having him play left tackle or right tackle. Currently, it’s Deculus, a second-year pro from LSU who went to Cy-Fair High School who is preparing to play left tackle.
The Texans, after allowing a league-high 11 sacks in the first two games, allowed zero sacks against the Jaguars as Stroud was only hit four times.
Against elite pass rushers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, it will be a challenge for the offensive line and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik to devise a protection plan.
“We’ll do whatever it takes up front to make sure we’re protecting, and Bobby and his staff have done a great job of getting better each week when it comes to the protection,” Ryans said. “No matter who is in there, it really doesn’t matter to us. It’s about stepping up and doing the job that’s in front of us. We have our hands full this week with Watt and Highsmith. Two elite edge rushers in this league, cause a lot of problems for a lot of offenses.
“T.J. is the sack leader, pressure leader, so it’s definitely going to have our attention this week, and we have to handle him accordingly. It’ll take all 11 to get it done knowing we have our hands full with the pass rush this week. The Steelers have always been known for great defense, so we’re up for the challenge this week.”
Howard, signed to a three-year, $56 million contract extension at the start of camp, dealt with swelling in hand at the start of the season and it was determined that it wasn’t a good idea for him to rush back to play after suffering a time table with an original recovery timetable of four to six weeks. Instead, Howard is poised to return in a two-month span.
“Thank you everyone for all the hand donations lol but I’ll be good,” Howard wrote on social media when he was placed on injured reserve and it was decided that he would miss games against the Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers. “I’ll be back soon better than ever.”
The heftiest investments for the Texans’ roster has been their expensive and necessary spending at the offensive line position to protect rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, who has passed for 906 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions despite missing four original starters across the line. Right guard Shaq Mason is the only original starter from the start of camp to start every game.
The Texans have started Jones at left tackle the past two games with Tunsil sidelined. Tunsil badly wants to play and has been rehabbing constantly, but has been dealing with significant pain and stiffness in his knee along with swelling that affects mobility, according to sources.
His outlook remains complicated on a short-term basis and perhaps longer because of a problematic knee injury. Tunsil is in supreme physical condition, but has also dealt with the rigors of the game that has taken a toll on his knee. He was limited in practice last week, was listed as questionable initially on the injury report and then was ruled out for a road game against the Jaguars and he didn’t travel.
Tunsil was signed to a three-year, $75 million contract extension that made the three-time Pro Bowl left offensive tackle the highest paid offensive lineman in the league for the second time. And the Texans traded for and signed Mason, a former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter, to a three-year, $36 million deal.
Rookie starting center Juice Scruggs, a second-round draft pick from Penn State who was placed on short-term injured reserve with a strained hamstring, is expected to be activated as soon as next week with a chance of playing against the New Orleans Saints if he’s practicing next week before the Atlanta game, per sources.
In the wake of former starting center Scott Quessenberry out for the entire season with torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments and Scruggs being out, rookie Jarrett Patterson has started the first three games at center with Kendrick Green starting at left guard the past two games.
Pitre was among four starters ruled out for this past game Sunday, including linebacker Denzel Perryman. Perryman is dealing with hand and wrist injuries and isn’t practicing. There is a good chance he could play in the next week or so with a cast on his hand.
Texans nickel Tavierre Thomas is expected to miss another game due to a broken hand that required surgery, per a league source. He was replaced against the Jacksonville Jaguars by Grayland Arnold at nickel with Alex Austin practicing at nickel, too.
Wide receiver Robert Woods was given a rest day Wednesday and didn’t practice.
The following players were limited: Fant (rest), wide receiver Tank Dell (rest), defensive end Jonathan Greenard (knee), cornerback Shaq Griffin (foot), offensive guard Shaq Mason (ankle) and safety Jimmie Ward (rest).
Ryans has attributed the extremely high amount of injuries to the normal rigors of the game.
The Texans have placed wide receiver Noah Brown (groin), cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. (hamstring), offensive guard Kenyon Green (torn labrum), fullback Troy Hairston (back), offensive tackle Tytus Howard (hand surgery), punter Cameron Johnston (groin), wide receiver Jesse Matthews (torn anterior cruciate ligament), center Scott Quessenberry (torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments), defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway (calf), offensive tackle D.J. Scaife (knee), center Juice Scruggs (hamstring) and offensive tackle Kilian Zierer (ankle) on injured reserve.
“Playing football for a long time, coaching for a while, there are a lot of things that happen on the field that you just can’t control, and that’s the nature of the game that we play football,” Ryans said. “So, to try to pinpoint not getting us injured, that’s hard to do. You can’t justify how things happen. It’s football. Guys are making violent cuts, moving, reacting every play, so you can’t determine movements, that’s the name of our game: unpredicted movements.
“So, guys are stronger, faster now, and guys unfortunately get hurt, and that’s not new to the NFL. It’s happened since the game began. It’s a physical game, it’s a violent game, and it’s unfortunate that guys get injured at times. If we could control injuries, I promise you all across the NFL, there would not be an injury if anyone’s controlling it, but as you see, all over the NFL, it happens. And the main thing is, everybody needs to focus on that person and what they’re going through with those injuries. How hard is it on that guy?”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.