Nico Collins’ latest Texans practice status a bad sign for Divisional Round

Recently, the Houston Texans punched their ticket to the divisional round of the playoffs with a blowout road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. It wasn’t a banner day for CJ Stroud and the Houston offense, but the Texans’ vaunted defense showed up in full force, scoring multiple touchdowns and limiting the Steelers to just six points.

Unfortunately, Nico Collins exited this game at one point due to injury and was unable to return, and on Thursday, the team got a rough status update on Collins regarding their upcoming road divisional game against the New England Patriots.

“#Texans WR Nico Collins is not at the portion of practice open to media members as he remains in concussion protocol. Obviously, it’s a long shot he plays Sunday vs. Patriots, considering the steps he must clear,” reported Jonathan M. Alexander of the Houston Chronicle on X, formerly Twitter.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network also confirmed that “The #Texans (are) likely to be without their top WR,” on X.

Collins is a huge part of the Texans’ offense, and playing without him would certainly hurt against a Patriots defense that largely shut down the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night.

Christian Kirk stepped up in a big way for the Texans on Monday, establishing himself as the only consistent source of offense on what was otherwise an ugly night for Houston on that side of the ball, and they will need him to replicate that performance and then some in order to knock off the upstart Patriots on the road.

In any case, kickoff between the Patriots and Texans is set for Sunday at 3:30 pm ET from Foxborough, with the winner moving on to the AFC Championship Game and the loser going home. The game will be carried nationally by ESPN and ABC.

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