Already shorthanded at wide receiver with Brandin Cooks sidelined, the Texans managed to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers without him and while losing two other receivers to injuries.
The Texans' leader with 80 catches, 945 yards and five touchdowns, Cooks is on the Texans' reserve-COVID-19 list after testing positive.
During a victory over the Chargers at NRG Stadium, wide receiver Phillip Dorsett injured his ankle and didn't return.
Dorsett, recently signed through the 2022 season to a contract that includes $300,000 guaranteed, caught three passes for 55 yards on six targets. That included an acrobatic 36-yard sideline catch.
"Dorsett, I think had a little ankle injury," Texans coach David Culley said. "I'm not sure how serious the ankle injury was, but it was serious enough that he couldn't come back in and play."
Wide receiver Chris Moore, who caught four passes for 40 yards on four targets, left the game in the second half with muscle cramps.
Texans wide receiver Danny Amendola, activated Saturday from the injured reserve-designated for return list after returning to practice last week after recovering from a torn meniscus that required surgery, was inactive Sunday.
Wide receiver Chris Conley led the Texans with three receptions for 60 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown catch.
And rookie wide receiver Nico Collins caught his first NFL touchdown pass.
“I mean, the goal every week is to spread it around and really just get the ball in the hands of open playmakers," said Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills, who had no interceptions. "I felt like a lot of guys stepped up this week. Really when their numbers were called were in the right spots and were winning on their routes. When you can spread the ball around on offense like that, it makes it easier for everybody.”
Mills' final score was on a 13-yard toss to Collins, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound third-round draft pick from Michigan.
“So, we were in four-minute mode there," Mills said. "Two plays previously we called the same play. It was a run play by design with kind of tagged route on the backside where if I see Nico can win on his route, I can trust him and get him the ball. We ended up coming back to that same play on Nico's touchdown.
"I saw the safety was kind of in the middle of the field. He had some space out there and I don't get yelled at because it wasn't an incompletion, but we were trying to burn some clock on the four-minute there, and I trusted Nico to win on his route and he was able to get his first touchdown. So, it was pretty cool."
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