HOUSTON -- After placing the NFL's receiving leader through the first five weeks on injured reserve Wednesday, the Houston Texans are left with a void to fill.
Nico Collins, who had 567 receiving 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 C.J. Stroud and coach DeMeco Ryans believe they're losing the "best receiver in the NFL," so they say they won't rely on just one player to replace Collins' production as they travel to the New England Patriots (1-4) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
"Yeah, for us, again, losing Nico, everybody has to get going, and so, we need everybody," Ryans said. "Everybody has to step up and own their role, so we'll see who that'll be for us Sunday. We don't know right now, today, who's going to make those plays, you never know, and that's what's exciting about our game. Any given Sunday, different guys being playmakers, stepping up, making plays."
Through Week 5, Stroud ranked third in passing yards (1,385) and will lean more on wideouts Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell with Collins out. One reason why the Texans traded a 2025 second-round pick for Diggs in the offseason was to elevate the ceiling of the offense. But his presence still gives them a dynamic player if Dell or Collins missed time again -- with Dell missing nine games (including playoffs) last season as a rookie and Collins missing 12 in his first three.
When Dell and Collins both were available last season, the Texans offense averaged 364 yards and 23.1 points per game while converting 44% of their third downs.
On the other hand, Diggs hasn't missed a game because of injury since 2018 and will slide into the No. 1 receiver role in the meantime. He ranked seventh in receptions (31, only one behind Collins) coming into Week 6 and doesn't rank far behind Collins in several other statistical categories.
"I think [Diggs] is great," Stroud said. "I definitely think that he is already a leader, but you can tell in practice today he knows his responsibility now with Nico out. That is really with all of them, everybody has to step up, even myself included to pick up the slack where Nico isn't playing.
"We definitely just have to hold each other accountable and just be better at that. He is definitely going to be at the forefront of that."
Dell has been the odd man out with the addition of Diggs -- 137 receiving yards. But he's eager to have a breakout game after being on pace for 1,205 yards as a rookie before a broken leg ended his season.
"We are up to par to pick up the slack from Nico," Dell said. "We got dogs in this receiver room. Start with [John] Metchie, [Xavier] Hutchison, myself, Steven [Sims]; I feel like we'll do well. Nico is a big, big factor in our offense -- we all know that -- but we still have other players who can go down, stretch the field, win on deep routes and underneath and do some of the similar things that Nico does."
It's worth mentioning that Stroud's numbers have been drastically different with Collins on and off the field this season.
When targeting Collins, Stroud had a passer rating of 133. When Collins is on the field, even if he isn't being targeted, Stroud has a passer rating of 107 while completing 70% of his throws with a 7-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio in 132 pass attempts.
In contrast, in Stroud's 45 pass attempts when Collins isn't on the field, he has zero touchdowns, an interception and a passer rating of 72 while completing 64% of his passes.
With Collins out, Stroud said it'll require him to have "efficiency" and "execution."
"I think those are the two main things that I think about, is just being efficient, not forcing down the field, taking what the defense gives me but also executing when the play is there and making it happen," Stroud said. "Just a little bit of everything. I feel like I do that anyways but just the mindset and intentionality need to be ramped up even more now."
The Texans had been without Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon the past three weeks with an ankle injury, but he returned to practice Thursday, and his backup, Dameon Pierce, returned practice Wednesday after missing the last four games (hamstring).
Getting the running game back on track could help Houston make up for the loss of Collins and avoid having to rely heavily on the pass game, but Collins will be out a minimum of four games and the pass defenses they will 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 allowed per game coming into 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 catch a break in terms of schedule, but they know that they have to still execute to keep their early moment
"Everybody's got to do their job," Diggs said. "You don't have to do nothing special than you was already doing."