How the Texans plan to deal with the loss of WR Nico Collins

HOUSTON – After the Houston Texans placed the NFL's all-time leader on injured reserve for the first five weeks on Wednesday, a hole remains to be filled.

Nico Collins, who had 567 yards and three touchdowns, suffered a hamstring injury in Houston's 23-20 win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 5 and will miss at least the next four games.

Quarterback CJ Stroud and coach DeMeco Ryans believe they are losing the “best receiver in the NFL,” so they say they won't rely on just one player, Collins, for their trip to the New England Patriots (1-4). ' Performance Replaced ) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

“Yes, even if we lose Nico, everyone has to get going and that’s why we need everyone,” Ryans said. “Everyone has to step up and play their role, so we’ll see on Sunday who that will be for us. We don't know right now, today, who's going to make these plays, you never know, and that's what's exciting.” About our game: Every Sunday, different people are playmakers stepping up and making plays.

In Week 5, Stroud ranked third in passing yards (1,385) and will rely more on wideouts Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell with Collins out. One reason the Texans traded a 2025 second-round pick for Diggs in the offseason was to raise the offensive cap. But his presence still makes them a dynamic player if Dell or Collins miss time again – Dell missed nine games (including playoffs) as a rookie last season and Collins missed 12 in his first three games.

When Dell and Collins were both available last season, the Texans' offense averaged 364 yards and 23.1 points per game and converted 44% of their third downs.

On the other hand, Diggs has not missed a game due to injury since 2018 and will now slip into the role of No. 1 receiver. Entering Week 6, he ranked seventh in receptions (31, just one behind Collins) and isn't far behind Collins in several other statistical categories.

“I think (Diggs) is great,” Stroud said. “I definitely think he is already a leader, but you can see in practice today that he is aware of his responsibilities after Nico was out. That really applies to everyone, everyone has to improve, even myself, to close the gap.” Nico doesn’t play.

“We definitely need to hold each other accountable and just get better at it. He will definitely be at the forefront of this.”

Dell was the underdog with the addition of Diggs – 137 receiving yards. But he's eager to have a breakout game after rushing for 1,205 yards as a rookie before a broken leg ended his season.

“We are able to catch up with Nico,” said Dell. “We have dogs in this receiver room. Start with (John) Metchie, (Xavier) Hutchison, myself, Steven (Sims); I have a feeling we will do well. Nico is a big, big factor in our offense – we all know that – but we still have other players who can go downfield, stretch the field, win on deep routes and underneath and do some of the similar things that Nico does.”

It's worth noting that Stroud's numbers were drastically different this season with Collins on and off the field.

When he targeted Collins, Stroud had a passer rating of 133. When Collins is on the field, even when not being targeted, Stroud has a passer rating of 107 while completing 70% of his throws for a 7-2 touchdown – Interception rate on 132 pass attempts.

In contrast, in his 45 pass attempts when Collins is not on the field, Stroud has zero touchdowns, one interception and a passer rating of 72 while completing 64% of his passes.

Stroud said Collins would need to demonstrate “efficiency” and “executiveness.”

“I think those are the two main things I think about: just being efficient, not pushing the field, taking what the defense gives me, but also executing when the play is there and executing it said Stroud. “Just a little bit of everything. I feel like I’m doing this anyway, but just the mindset and intention needs to be increased even more now.”

The Texans have been without Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon for the past three weeks after suffering an ankle injury, but he returned to practice on Thursday and his backup, Dameon Pierce, returned to practice on Wednesday after missing the last four Had missed games (thigh injury).

Getting the running back going could help Houston offset the loss of Collins and avoid having to rely too heavily on the passing game, but Collins will be out at least four games and the pass defenses they'll face – Patriots, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets – aren't the toughest. Only the Jets (136 yards per game) have a pass defense that ranks in the top five in yards per game allowed in Week 6. The Colts (262.2) were 29th through the first five weeks, the Packers (231.6) were 23rd and the Patriots (239.0) were 25th.

The Texans (4-1) will take a break schedule-wise, but they know they still have to do everything they can to keep their early chance

“Everyone has to do their job,” Diggs said. “You don’t have to do anything special than what you’ve already done.”