Nico Collins has career day but will need to keep producing to fuel Texans playoff push

The Houston Texans survived in Week 13 against the Denver Broncos despite a last push to take the lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

With the win, the Texans improve to 7-5 on the season but currently sit in third place in the AFC South following the Indianapolis Colts' win over the Tennessee Titans. 

As it stands, the Texans are the 8th seed in the AFC playoff picture going into Monday night with the Jacksonville Jaguars set to host the Cincinnati Bengals. The Texans are knocking on the door toward a playoff push, but more work needs to be done.

The job on offense got a lot harder despite the team's win in Week 13. The Texans lost rookie wide receiver Tank Dell with a brutal leg injury, who will likely miss the remainder of the 2023 season. The promising rookie had 709 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns on the season.

In his absence, the Texans will have to rely even more on their top target in the passing game to fuel a playoff push over the final five games of the season. Nico Collins leads the Texans with 991 receiving yards and is second on the team with 6 touchdowns.

In Week 13's win over the Broncos, Collins totaled a career-high 9 receptions for a career-high 191 receiving yards and one score. The career day proved that the Texans offense should manage to withstand the major loss with Collins at the forefront of the passing attack.