We have a good thing going right now in Houston sports, with all three of the Texans, Rockets, and Astros firmly viewed as playoff teams, and when you root for a playoff team, by definition, you have hope. Hope is a phenomenal sports commodity. It's what gets us through our days, at times. However, the one thing that can shoot a nuclear torpedo right through hope? Injuries.
Now, injuries come in different flavors. The long-term injury, the ones you can plan for during the off season, certainly hurt, but at least you have clarity. Think Tank Dell's knee injury which should keep him out for all of 2025. The Texans, and we as fans, can plan for that. Then, there are the little nagging injuries. A sprain here, a pull there, that keeps a guy out for a few games. That's just the cost of doing business.
The worst type of injury, in my opinion, are the ones that unexpectedly knock a key performer out for an extended period of time. Even worse, oftentimes, these are injuries that are recurring. Maybe it doesn't happen twice in the same season, but it can happen a year or two apart, and thus, it always feels like the Grim Reaper is following us around.
The best current example of this is Astros DH Yordan Alvarez's hand injury, a recurrence of an injury that hit him THREE YEARS AGO, for which the latest news is as follows:
Alvarez said he is hitting in the cage and unsure of a timeline to return. He said if he’s pain free, “It could be tomorrow, it could be the next day, but we’re going to keep working for it to be 100 percent.” https://t.co/ED0EJFh91V
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) May 19, 2025
Translation — who the hell knows when Yordan will return? Who the hell nows if it will happen again later this season? So, as a Houston sports fan, this gets me thinking — what are the biggest "Grim Reaper" injuries in this town, injuries that feel like they could happen on any play, at any time? So here we go, here is my list:
Yordan Alvarez's handWe just mentioned it above, but it's worth mentioning again on this list. Alvarez has generally dealt with more injuries than the average ballplayer, including double knee surgery in 2020, and an oblique injury which took him down for huge chunk of 2023. This hand injury was last a major issue in 2022, when he missed 27 games. The good news, I suppose, is the Astros did end up winning the World Series in 2022.
Nico Collins' hamstringsCollins has missed at least a few games in each of his four NFL seasons, but last season's injury was perhaps the most soul crushing, as Collins was on pace for a 2,000 yard season through four games plus one quarter of the fifth game of the season, before pulling a hamstring scoring a 78-yard touchdown against the Bills. Collins would miss the next five games, but still eclipse the 1,000 yard mark for the season, which is a great indicator of what we were missing those five games that he was out.
Will Anderson's anklesAnderson has had parts of each of his first two seasons taken away by ankle injuries. In his rookie season, in 2023, Anderson was just beginning to get untracked, and then he hurt an ankle on the turf at Met Life Stadium in Week 14 against the Jets, forcing him out of the next two games. In his second season, Anderson once again was hurt in a road game against the Jets, when teammate Neville Hewitt rolled over Anderson's ankle. Again, Anderson missed two games. Anderson is the heart and soul of the Texans' defense. He needs to be on the field.
Derek Stingley, Jr., head to toeIt may look a little strange having Stingley on this list, as the third year cornerback was named first team All Pro and played in all 17 games last season. However, prior to 2024, the last healthy season Stingley goes all the way back to 2019, his freshman year at LSU, when he was an All American. Hopefully, 2024 is a harbinger of what's to come with Stingley, and fully healthy seasons are the norm, particularly since he just signed a $90 million extension back in March.
C.J. Stroud’s brainThere must be something about Met Life Stadium, because like Anderson, Stroud suffered the only serious injury of his NFL career, thus far, on that horrific turf, when Quinnen Williams of the Jets slammed Stroud to the turf, dumping the then-rookie quarterback on his head. Stroud was forced to miss the next two games in concussion protocol, and ever since then, whenever Stroud goes to the turf (which happened a TON last season behind that horrible Texans offensive line), I get nervous and pray he gets up unscathed. That is ultimate Grim Reaper stuff.
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