HOUSTON – Another Houston Texans star has been benched by an injury. Defensive end J.J. Watt left practice Thursday morning after hurting his elbow.
He will undergo tests to determine the extent of the injury.
Defensive end Antonio Smith said the entire team was shaken when Watt got hurt.
"I was just concerned that my brother had went down," Smith said. "Seeing him down like that, it kind of took the whole breath out of practice. Everybody was concerned about him, but the trainers took him in, and Kubs (Kubiak) said he’s going to be alright. So I’m going to roll with that."
Coach Gary Kubiak said he hopes to have Watt back when preseason action gets under way.
"J.J.’s got elbow issue that we’ve obviously got to evaluate here at lunch time and see what happens," Kubiak said. "I’m trying to smile. I’m concerned until we go find out what’s going on. But you know, I don’t want to say nothing. It’s his elbow, we’re gonna take a look at it. Hopefully, everything will be OK."
Watt had 56 tackles and 5.5. sacks in his rookie season and was a key player in the dramatic turnaround by the Texans defense.
He’s the third starter to be injured in the last few days. Wide receiver Andre Johnson is recovering from a groin strain and left tackle Duane Brown hurt his ankle Wednesday.
"There’s been some scares with some key guys on our football team," Kubiak said. "Hopefully, we work through some of that and be fortunate. We’ve got a long way to go between now and the time we play. Right now, I don’t have any doubt that Andre’s going to be there on opening day and Duane Brown’s going to be there on opening day and J.J.’s going to be, in my mind, he’s going to be there on opening day. That’s what’s most important."
