When Jalen Pitre left M&T Bank Stadium on Sept. 10, he was the latest player struck by a significant injury.
The Houston Texans second-year safety sustained a bruised lung. And four days after his release from a Baltimore hospital, the Texans have ruled Pitre out for Sunday's home opener against the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium.
Pitre's absence will lead to the Texans starting M.J. Stewart at free safety. He will join Eric Murray in the defensive backfield, who will be making his second consecutive start due to the absence of Jimmie Ward.
Murray and Stewart played one half together during Houston's Week 1 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens. And their play left an optimistic view as the Texans prepare to take the field without their two starting safeties against the Colts.
"I don’t think we missed a beat with either of those guys playing," defensive coordinator Matt Burke said. "We felt confident in that. The players feel confident in those guys going out there. That didn’t affect us at all. I don’t think we blinked."
Murray and Stewart each finished Week 1 with a Pro Football Focus grade over 70.0, respectively. The numbers coincide with Burke's belief that Murray and Stewart did a good job filling in the voids at safety.
They helped limit former league MVP Lamar Jackson to a subpar performance, where he completed 17-of-22 attempts for 169 yards.
But the one attribute Houston's defensive backfield must improve against the Colts would be their ability to defend deep ball pass attempts. Jackson was 4-for-4 for 81 yards on passes that went over 15 yards.
Colts' rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson completed one pass over 15 yards during Indy's Week 1 defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, the Texans have acknowledged the challenges of Richardson's arm strength when it comes to deep ball pass attempts — which has been described as a cannon.
"He can make all those throws — he's got a cannon, so it’s definitely a challenge for us this week," Burke said. "It’s just information we sort of inform guys with or just some of the ways we’re trying to call different things in general. I think that’s a hard thing to hone in on sometimes."
While Murray and Stewart try to help the Texans win their first home game since December 2021, Pitre will remain sidelined. He will likely return ahead of the Texans' Week 3 contest in Jacksonville. And despite missing all of practice, Pitre has remained in good spirits.
"Great to see him back in the building, just seeing him with a smile on his face I think that brightens everyone’s day," coach DeMeco Ryans said. "It’s good to see him back in the building and he’ll still be day-to-day. We’ll see where he ends up."
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