After completing a pass late in the Houston Texans’ 30-6 loss to the New York Jets, quarterback C.J. Stroud was brought to the MetLife Stadium turf. The blow would have left him shaken and, most likely, concussed.

The scare sent shivers through Houston’s faithful. He will spend the week in concussion protocol and will be evaluated further before the team’s Week 15 game against the Tennessee Titans.

The Texans’ playoff chances have taken a significant hit after falling to 7-6, necessitating a strong stretch run that includes three AFC South games and the Cleveland Browns. New York presented a winnable game, and they failed to show up, removing any breathing room they had.

Houston may now start backup quarterback Davis Mills. He took over for Stroud after the injury, completing only one of five attempts for four yards. He was fired once.

“Extremely tough. “I adore him,” Mills said. “He’s been battling for this team week in and week out, and it’s obviously difficult to see him go down.” The team believes that they should go out there and play for him. So all I have to do now is step in and make sure there is no dropoff when I come in to play, as I attempted to do at the end of this game. “It was just a bad day.”

Stroud’s injury had little impact on Sunday’s game, as he had already gone 10-of-23 for 91 yards. But the prospect of the franchise quarterback taking shots to the head does not sit well with anyone.

It’s a scary situation in both the short and long term, but Mills will try to mitigate the immediate impact if he’s named starter next Sunday.

“Nothing changes in terms of my preparation,” Mills explained. “Going into the offense even as the No. 2 this year, I’ve been preparing every week like I’m going into the game to start, so I don’t think there should be any change in preparation.”