Houston Texans coach Lovie Smith says that starting center Justin Britt will not be available for the Denver Broncos in Week 2.
“Justin Britt will not play this week,” Smith told reporters Friday. “As I’ve told you, he’s been out for personal reasons. We’ll be able to give you more information a little bit more in the day, but he will not play this week.”
Because Britt has missed practice for the past three days, the Texans have had to explore backup options as a necessity.
“We have some different options,” said Smith. “I don’t go into starting lineups of exactly who’s going to play. I never will no matter what, but you kind of look at the roster a little bit. We got options, and we’ll look at our options and go from there.”
Scott Quessenberry has been taking first-team snaps with Britt absent. The Texans also have Jimmy Morrissey and Justin McCray available, both of whom started for Houston last season when Britt missed games due to a knee injury.
Said Smith: “Whenever a player can’t play for whatever reason you have to have a backup plan. We’ve practiced — Justin hasn’t practiced this week, so, we’ve kind of practiced that way, planned for that.”
Houston kicks off against the Broncos Sunday at 3:25 p.m. Central Time from Empower Field at Mile High.
