HOUSTON -- Houston Texans starting offensive guard Brandon Brooks felt well enough to travel back to Houston on Monday night after being hospitalized overnight in upstate New York.
Brooks experienced extreme nausea and sweating prior to kickoff Sunday and was a late scratch for the loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Although it's a positive sign Brooks was able to return home after going to the emergency room for fluids and an examination, his status for Sunday night's game against the New England Patriots remained undetermined.
"I think he was pretty sick, so I think it's too soon," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "I'm hoping that it's going to be OK, but it's probably too soon to tell right now."
Brooks missed a game last season while dealing with ulcers.
"I'm hoping everything pans out with Brandon," left tackle Duane Brown said. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm hoping the doctors get him right."
--Shaken up on a hit in the fourth quarter, wide receiver Cecil Shorts isn't in the NFL concussion testing protocol and should be fine to play this week.
--The Texans emerged relatively unscathed with injuries. Center Ben Jones played through an extremely sore lower back.
"I think we're fairly healthy," O'Brien said. "Normally at this time of the year, a lot of guys are banged up. That's definitely the case with us. We've got a lot of guys that have played a lot of football for us."
--Houston Texans rookie corner Kevin Johnson endured the toughest game of his otherwise promising rookie season.
Johnson was beaten for a pair of red-zone touchdowns, one by Sammy Watkins and another by Robert Woods. The first-round draft pick also allowed a 53-yard completion to Watkins. On both scores, Johnson applied tight coverage. Each time, he was unable to make a play on the football.
Johnson is determined to fix his mistakes and upgrade his play.
"I watched the tape a couple of times and there is some stuff that I can do better," Johnson said. "We're going to watch the tape again and just correct those things.
"I'm going to learn from it. I'm going to see what I can do better. I'm going to get ready for next week, but learn lessons from it."
One week after allowing Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor to throw three touchdown passes and rush for another, the Texans will square off against Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
"It's going to be a tough matchup," Johnson said. "Tom Brady is known as one of the best players to play the game, so we have to be on our game."
--Houston Texans outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney barreled into the Buffalo Bills' backfield to sack elusive Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor on Sunday. The top overall draft pick of 2014 was the only Texan to record a sack as J.J. Watt had a sack nullified by a penalty. Clowney had three tackles, two for losses. He has 2 1/2 sacks for the season, and his career.
"It felt good, but it would have been better if we had got the win," Clowney said. "I'm just out here playing ball, doing whatever I can do to make a play."
Clowney downplayed a relatively minor leg injury that had him limping in the locker room afterward. The oft-injured pass rusher briefly left the game, but had no further setbacks.
"I wasn't worried, I went back in the game and kept playing," Clowney said. "I'm good."
--In a losing cause, Houston Texans running back Chris Polk had his most productive game since joining the team during the offseason.
Polk caught a touchdown pass for the first time in his fourth NFL season. He gained a season-high 61 yards on 12 carries, including a season-long 20-yard run. The 11-yard touchdown pass from Brian Hoyer to Polk almost didn't happen, though.
"I kind of messed up, I went inside instead of outside, but Brian gave me a chance and waited for me to get open," Polk said. "It was a great feeling to catch a touchdown and get into the end zone."
Polk has rushed for 252 yards and one score in 11 games and no starts along with 14 catches for 95 yards.
"The whole thing all the time with Chris Polk is that he stays healthy," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "He's stayed healthy the last few weeks. He's helped us in the running game, can catch passes out of the backfield and contributes on special teams. He's playing pretty well for us and hopefully that will continue."
--Accustomed to being the subject of extra blocking attention on a routine basis, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt was regularly surrounded Sunday as the Buffalo Bills' offensive line took it to another level with the amount of resources they devoted to him. The result was an uncharacteristically quiet game from the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
With starting right tackle Seantrel Henderson and right guard John Miller sidelined for health reasons, the Bills took measures to limit Watt's impact against replacements Jordan Mills and Kraig Urbik. They double-teamed and triple-teamed Watt, even peeling back left guard Richie Incognito on occasion, as Watt was limited to four tackles, one for a loss and zero sacks or quarterback hits during the Texans' 30-21 loss at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
"I face double-teams, triple-teams every single week, so it's nothing new," said Watt, who leads the NFL with 13 1/2 sacks and had a sack nullified Sunday by a penalty in the secondary. "They had a good scheme coming in. Their right guard and right tackle are out. They're not just going to leave you go on those guys. I think they did a good job on that."
--Houston Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins in the fourth quarter that tied the score and established a milestone.
Hopkins' 10th touchdown broke the single-season record he previously shared with former Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson.
"It's an honor, but we lost," Hopkins said.
Hopkins finished with five catches for 88 yards while being double-covered practically every play. He now has 86 catches for 1,169 yards this season.
--Undrafted rookie offensive lineman Kendall Lamm has been toiling away as a blocking tight end, dutifully reporting as eligible throughout the season without a pass thrown his way.
That changed Sunday when Lamm caught a 7-yard pass thrown by quarterback Brian Hoyer.
"The ball came to me," Lamm said. "We worked on it in practice and I told them if they decide to throw it to me, I will catch it."
