Houston Texans: Bradley Roby’s return after bye ‘trending in right direction’

Houston Texans cornerback Bradley Roby, who has been out for the past three weeks with a hamstring injury is on track to return. What’s the latest?

Houston Texans fans — it’s the bye week which allows us time to reflect on how the team has progressed through the season so far.  Usually, by this point in the season, a fan will know pretty much what lies ahead after that week is over as well as the prognosis of what the rest of the season will hold.

But my fellow Houston Texans fans, I’d like to report that the state of the team is strong and that they will continue their ascent in the AFC South with the strong play on both ends of the football.  Yes, there are a lot of holes on this roster but the coaching staff has still done a tremendous job of ensuring that they don’t get exposed and that they’re able to win football games.

That all starts with quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is on a tremendous tear of football, despite playing with a swollen eye that obviously has some impact on his vision.

It didn’t affect him much at all as he completed 22-of-28 passes for 201 yards along with two touchdowns with a 120.4 quarterback rating to boot against the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday in London.  He also had 37 rushing yards to his credit.

He even took off the recommended protective visor on his helmet at the beginning of the game as it was having some impact on his ability to make his reads while under center.  It did put him at risk to injure his eye again but with such a rare injury happening, what were the odds of it happening again?  It would be highly unlikely but with Watson’s no-holds-barred style of play, you never what’s going to happen next.

So as long as that man remains upright, there’s no question this team will leap to bounds that they’ve never been and Watson is going to take us all along for a hell of a ride to the finish line at the end of next month.

But as we think about the bye week, we think about key guys that are on the shelf that are due to return after this break.

Will Fuller, Tashaun Gipson and Lonnie Johnson Jr. are all that Bill O’Brien categorized as “trending in the right direction” to return to the gridiron.

In addition, cornerback Bradley Roby is also in that bunch and with as thin as the secondary has been with the injuries it has sustained, his presence will be extremely welcomed.

His tenure with the Houston Texans has been solid but he hasn’t really had the opportunity to shine because quarterbacks refuse to throw to him because they don’t want any of what he’s about to put on his defensive assignment.

The Houston Texans had to trade their third-round pick acquired from the Seattle Seahawks in the Jadeveon Clowney trade to give to the Oakland Raiders for Gareon Conley, who has had mixed

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results so far with the team but has given the secondary a modest boost.

They even signed Briean Boddy-Calhoun off the street just get even more help.  He had a sack on Gardner Minshew II, so he may have solidified a way to a means to a roster spot with this team with him being to help out of the gate so quickly.  Boddy-Calhoun was with the team throughout training camp but was cut before the start of the season.  Luckily, he happened to be available and has been a nice fit thus far.

But with Roby back, things can finally settle in secondary and we can only hope that Johnathan Joseph, as well as the other guys, can step up to a point where we’re not worried week to week on how much yards and/or touchdowns this struggling unit will give up.

I really hope to see him out there against the Baltimore Ravens as with the type of attack that Lamar Jackson will lead, you can bank on the Houston Texans needing every weapon they have to try to beat their opponent the week after the next.

Let’s keep an eye — go Houston Texans!

Roby has amassed 24 tackles –22 solos — along with four passes defended, one forced fumble and one tackle-for-loss through six starts this season.