The Texans have missed several of their key skill position players this season.
Running back Joe Mixon has yet to play and might not this season.
Wide receiver Christian Kirk has played in only three games, and he remained out of practice on Wednesday with a hamstring injury.
In addition, wide receiver Nico Collins missed Wednesday’s session with a concussion that he was diagnosed with in the fourth quarter on Monday night.
They were the only two players on the active roster who didn’t practice.
Tight ends Dalton Schultz (back/shoulder) and Brenden Bates (wrist) were limited.
Defensive end Denico Autry (knee), defensive end Derek Barnett (ankle) and cornerback Jaylin Smith (hamstring) also were limited.
49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy again was a limited participant in practice. He was limited all of last week and ruled out against the Falcons.
Purdy, who has turf toe, has not had a full practice since Sept. 26.
He initially injured his toe in Week 1 and missed two weeks before returning for Week 4. He missed every practice in Weeks 5-6.
Mac Jones, who was a full participant on Wednesday with knee and oblique injuries, has started five games and has a 4-1 record.
The 49ers did not have center Jake Brendel (hamstring), defensive end Yetus Gross-Matos (knee/hamstring), defensive end Bryce Huff (hamstring), cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (quad), running back Christian McCaffrey (rest), wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee) or left tackle Trent Williams (rest) at Wednesday’s practice.
Pearsall has not played since Week 4.
Offensive tackle Spencer Burford (knee), linebacker Luke Gifford (hamstring), cornerback Renardo Green (toe) and cornerback Upton Stout (ankle) were limited.
Burford had his 21-day practice window opened on Wednesday.
Monday night’s Buccaneers-Lions game drew a huge audience on ESPN.
The late game between the Texans and Seahawks? Not so much.
In fact, ESPN’s press release trumpeting Monday night’s ratings don’t even say how many people watched Texans-Seahawks.
The ESPN press release says that Buccaneers-Lions generated an audience of 18.8 million viewers. That’s the most-watched Week Seven Monday night game for ESPN ever, and a 19 percent increase over last year’s Week Seven Monday night game.
But the ESPN press release doesn’t even say how many people watched Texans-Seahawks, which is something that only happens when the number is nothing to speak of. ESPN announced only that accounting for both games, Monday Night Football averaged 12.7 million viewers for the doubleheader.
Math tells us that if Bucs-Lions got 18.8 million viewers, and the average of Bucs-Lions and Texans-Seahawks was 12.7 million viewers, that means the audience for Texans-Seahawks was 6.6 million viewers.
An audience of 6.6 million viewers is solid for most things on American television, but not for an NFL game. The viewers voted with their eyeballs and declared that a game starting at 10 p.m. ET wasn’t something they wanted to stay up for.
Monday night’s lineup was the last doubleheader of the season; the rest of the year, every Monday will have only one game. Given the audience for the second game, the NFL and ESPN may reconsider whether they want to have Monday night doubleheaders with such late kickoffs going forward.
Though the Texans offense is a mess, head coach DeMeco Ryans isn’t pointing fingers at anyone but himself.
Ryans said Tuesday, a day after a 27-19 loss to the Seahawks, that he has no plans to change offensive coordinators.
“We’re pressing forward with everybody that we have,” Ryans said, via DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN. “We’re collectively all in this together.”
Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik lost his job after last season when the Texans averaged 21.9 points and 320 yards per game. They are worse this season under Nick Caley, averaging 21.2 points and 304 yards per game.
The Texans currently rank 23rd in yards and 21st in points.
“It all starts with me,” Ryans said. “So, you guys want to point the finger at somebody, put it on me. That’s my job, and ultimately, it’s my job to get it fixed. So that’s how it’ll be, but we’re rolling on what we have, and we got to just all do better. Got to coach you better. We got to play better. We got to execute better on game day. And look, as bad as it seems, I tell the guys at the end of the day, we’re still one possession from getting that game.”
In the fourth quarter of Monday night’s loss to the Seahawks, Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud fell near the sideline after throwing a pass and taking a hit. The back of his helmet struck the turf.
Stroud grimaced. His hands immediately went to the outside of his helmet.
“Watch the end of the play here,” ESPN’s Chris Fowler said over video of a replay shown with 8:55 remaining, the first play from scrimmage for Seattle after a failed fourth-and-15 from Houston. “Goes down and the head [hits] the turf. Back of the head. Which is an area you do not want to have your head hit the ground. It’s very vulnerable back there.”
Added ESPN’s Louis Riddick, “You see the look in his face right there.”
“Immediately grabbing the helmet as he slides out of bounds,” Fowler said.
The broadcast at that point Stroud showed the quarterback sitting on the bench. No one was checking him. There was no commentary or sideline report regarding whether he was checked for a concussion, in or out of the blue medical tent. Despite the clear implication of the concerns expressed by Fowler and Riddick for Stroud.
Per the team, Stroud wasn’t given a concussion evaluation. Which means that, despite the visual evidence, no one suggested that Stroud should receive one.
While I’m no expert on brain trauma (or much else, for that matter), a player striking the back of his helmet against an artificial turf field and then grimacing and grabbing his helmet with both hands would seem to be the kind of thing that would spark a cursory check of whether the player had a concussion.
At a time when the NFL is rightfully exploring the Giants’ violation of the concussion protocol via multiple persons entering and approaching the blue tent while Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was receiving a concussion evaluation, it’s important for the NFL to be just as vigilant when it comes to spotting potential head injuries.
With spotters assigned to games specifically for the purpose of determining which players need medical attention, how did no one see that Stroud hit the back of his helmet on the turf, instantly grimaced, and grabbed the helmet? ESPN saw it, and thought enough of it to spend time talking about it — even if there was nothing more said about whether anyone bothered to check Stroud for a concussion.
