Texans Place Matt Schaub On IR, Sign Kellen Clemens

So the Texans face the final six games of the season with Matt Leinart as their starting quarterback.

Check out SB Nation’s Battle Red Blog to see what Texans fans are saying about the move.

“When you look at it, it’s pretty colorful and everything,” Schaub said, according to the Associated Press. “It’s pretty sore and beat up right now. But we’re going to search out some other opinions and just do as much as we can to get it right here in the near future to see what can happen.”

In addition to bruising, Schaub said his foot is quite swollen. “I’m not one to give in to something like this that easily,” he said. “It doesn’t look good. My foot is pretty much the size of a cinder block right now.”

Although the Texans have a bye upcoming and Head Coach Gary Kubiak would only definitively rule Schaub out for Week 12 against Jacksonville, recovery from a Lisfranc injury, which involves the bones and ligaments of the midfoot, typically requires months rather than weeks for a full recovery. This clearly places Schaub’s 2011 season in jeopardy, and the major concerns for the remainder of Schaub’s career and beyond will be whether the injury heals sufficiently to prevent chronic pain and stiffness of the foot. This will depend upon the exact nature of the injury and how easy it will be to realign the damaged areas of the midfoot, a proposition that may require surgery.

The Lisfranc joint is the point at which the metatarsal bones (the long bones that lead up to the toes) and the tarsal bones (the bones in the arch, which include the cuneiform bones) connect. The Lisfranc ligament is a tough band of tissue that joins two of these bones. It is important for maintaining proper alignment and strength of this joint.

At his weekly news conference, Kubiak didn’t downplay the severity of the injury:

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Schaub is having a terrific season completing 61 percent of his passes for nearly 2,500 yards with 15 touchdowns to just six interceptions.

Check out SB Nation’s Battle Red Blog where there’s already several hundred comments dissecting the Texans next move at quarterback.