FanHouse Cedric Killings

Texans wide receiver Harry Williams was having a great camp, and had a chance of making the team based on his special teams play. Those dreams were likely ended yesterday, when Williams suffered a neck fracture while trying to make a special team tackle in the the first quarter of the Texans-Cowboys preseason game.

Williams was paralyzed on the field, but regained feeling and movement while being transported by ambulance to the hospital. The fracture is of the C3 vertebra, and he will be have surgery in Dallas this weekend to fuse his spine. Team orthopedic specialist Dr. Walter Lowe and coach Gary Kubiak discusses the injury in more depth in the above HoustonTexans.com video. They believe his prognosis is good.

There are few plays in football more exciting than the kickoff return for a touchdown. A fleet player weaving his way in and out of traffic to take the ball 90 or 100 yards for six points is always thrilling. There's another side to kickoffs, though.

The injuries to Kevin Everett of Buffalo and Cedric Killings of Houston remind us huge men are sprinting downfield where other huge men are waiting to throw their bodies in front of them. Injuries are bound to happen and as we've seen they can be especially serious. That's why agent Peter Schaffer wants the league to change the rules for kick coverage to try and enhance safety. He spoke with the Denver Post:

"To worry about these kids spending the rest of their lives in a wheelchair makes you instantly want to make a change. There has to be a change. There are often 300-pound men running straight into each other on the wedge. The wedge has to be outlawed."

Schaffer represents Tony Palmer of Green Bay. Palmer fractured a bone in his neck on a kickoff against the Giants ending his season and jeopardizing the rest of his career. Along with outlawing the wedge, Schaffer suggests having the coverage teams start in a 3-point stance and on the 30-yard line to slow their acceleration downfield.

While I understand Schaffer's concern I don't see the NFL making any changes that radical.

How many playmakers can one team lose and still win? This is the question that the Texans are facing at least over the next couple of weeks. The games against Atlanta on the road and Miami at home appeared to be the soft spot in the schedule, but with all the injuries to key Texans players, maybe not so much.

The Houston Chronicle article about the Texans injuries is here, and here's some additional thoughts about what this might mean for the team, including some information I haven't seen anywhere else.

Out For the Season:

Steve McKinney, Center: Torn ACL. Veteran Mike Flanagan will start in his place. Flanagan looked decent in his competition for the starting job in the preseason, but last year, McKinney looked better in run blocking. Flanagan got injured last season, and is on the oldish side, so there's concerns about depth. Chris White currently is the backup at center, and Kubiak liked his performance at camp.

Cedric Killings, Defensive Tackle: Fractured Vertebra. Cedric Killings was with the team in camp, was cut, but then was resigned when Travis Johnson was out with an injury. They kept him on the team after Johnson came back, but then Killings was injured during a special teams collision. With both McKinney and Killings on IR, the Texans chose to re-sign wide receiver David Anderson and tight end Joel Dressen, players who had been in camp with the team. Both are good special team players.

Yesterday, the game between the Colts and Texans was stopped after Texan DT Cedric Killings lay motionless on the field after a special teams collision. Today, the Texans held a press conference that included medical staff to let people know what Killings condition is.

His doctors explained that he had a fracture of the bone outside of the C4 vertabrae, the same vertebrae that Buffalo Bill tight end Kevin Everett fractured. On the field, Killings was in a temporarily quadriplegic state, but then started to have some feeling in his legs and arms. This morning he was able to stand next to his bed, and they expect him to be able to walk out of the hospital. He is still experiencing weakness in his arms, particularly his left one.

They are still running more tests, and time will tell how much rehabilitation he might need or if eventually he can play football again. Right now, they are focusing on making sure the spinal cord recovers, and he regains as much functionality as he can.

Interestingly, his treatment was different than Kevin Everett's in that he did not receive the immediate cold saline solution treatment, but did receive the same steroid therapy treatment. The doctors at the press conference suggested that the cold saline treatment may be promising but also may have significant drawbacks. It's actually a pretty fascinating discussion if you have an interest in protocols for possible spinal cord injuries.

The Texans had a chance to beat the Colts up to the last play of the game, despite playing the entire game without their number one receiver, Andre Johnson. The Texans are claiming no moral victory for the close loss, though their fans are probably more upset at the player injuries that happened during the game than the loss itself. The Colts lost all three AFC South road games last year, and have to feeling good to be currently 2-0 on the road in division this year.

To make it more difficult for the Texans to control the clock like they did last times the teams played, the Colts concentrated on stopping the run by playing 8 men in the box. They switched to Cover-2 after they had a couple of score lead. Ahman Green left the game early in the second quarter with a knee strain, and number 3 running back, Samkon Gado was unable to do much with the ball. (Second stringer Ron Dayne was inactive for this game due to a rib injury).

The Colts held the Texans to 40 yards rushing total. You think Bob Sanders had anything to do with that? Typically, in the past, teams' game plans against the Texans have been about stopping Andre Johnson, but with him out, the better bet is to make the Texans have to play mistake free football in the passing game and become one dimensional.

Matt Schaub threw the ball to 10 different targets and had a completion percentage of 81.8%. Two inceptions hurt the team, especially the one where he failed to take advantage of the Jacoby Jones' 74 yard punt return that put the ball at the Colts' 20 yard line. Time of possession was fairly even, but if you end up -2 against the Colts on turnovers, you are likely going to lose.

Here's hoping to a plan C . Backup DE Renaldo Wynn was injured in the New England Patriots game, saying he was horse-collared, making his status for Thursday's preseason finale against the Baltimore Ravens in doubt. Add that to the injuries to Cornelius Griffin and Phillip Daniels and the defensive line is averaging one lost player per game.

That leaves at DE first year Redskin Andre Carter, solid backups Demetric Evans and Nic Clemon, and your pick between Karon Riley and Joe Sykes until Phillip Daniels returns. At DT, until Cornelius Griffin is back, there's starter Joe Salave'a, solid backup Cedric Killings, still-learning backup Ryan Boschetti and the four rookies, Anthony Montgomery, Kedric Golston, Chris Mineo and Vaka Manupuna.

Wynn sprained his right ankle in the preseason game and says it's a day at a time. The Redskins are first waiting for the inflammation to go down and treat the ankle as much as possible to prepare Wynn for the regular season. Luckily, there wasn't any diagnosis of weeks of missing action, so he may be returning around the same time as Phillips, Griffin and Springs (a little later).