The Houston Texans are down another linebacker heading into their playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday afternoon. Tim Dobbins has been bothered by an ankle injury, which has been deemed serious for the Texans to place him on injured reserve, ending his season.
The linebacker spot for the Texans has been hammered with injuries this year, and it started with Brian Cushing tearing his ACL. Dobbins was the one who replaced him in the starting lineup along side Darryl Sharpton. Sharpton also succumbed to the linebacker injury bug, and was placed on injured reserve on Jan. 1.
Getting the start in place of Dobbins is likely to be Barrett Ruud. Moving up the chain of command for the backup spots will be Mister Alexander who the Texans recently signed. They also promoted Cameron Collins from the practice squad.
The Bengals key injury belongs to starting strong safety Chris Crocker. Crocker suffered a thigh injury in the season finale against the Baltimore Ravens, and is officially listed as doubtful. This week in practice, Crocker was held out of practice on two of the days, and the other he was limited.
Crocker feels that he is ready to play, but head coach Marvin Lewis is not so sure about putting him in the lineup. Look for Nate Clements to get the start for Crocker on Saturday.