The Houston Texans were missing a few players at practice Tuesday ahead of their wildcard showdown at home against the Cleveland Browns.
Nine players reported as “did not practice,” including defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Jonathan Greenard and wide receiver Noah Brown. Two others were limited.
Tuesday’s practice designation is important, but Wednesday and Thursday will be more important considering the game is on Saturday. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans didn’t say much about the availability of the injured players, but he did sound encouraged that at least some would return for the wildcard round.
“We’ll see where our guys end up by the end of the week,” Ryans said Monday. “Hopefully we get some guys back. Hopefully they continue to progress. We would love to have some of our guys back to help because we need all the guys we can get. We’d love to have them back.”
The big ones for Houston are along the defensive with Anderson, Greenard, defensive end Jerry Hughes and defensive tackle Maliek Collins. Greenard, who leads the Texans in sacks, hasn’t played in two weeks and would be a huge boost to the defense against the Browns.
Here is the full injury report from Tuesday.