Colts DeForest Buckner out with a back injury following Texans loss

Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner suffered a back injury after his Week 1 game against the Houston Texans Sunday, and currently, his status is unknown as the Colts prepare to take on the Packers in Green Bay next week.

Buckner was a defensive standout on Sunday, leading the pass rush with 1.5 sacks and six tackles. But towards the end of the game, Buckner looked visibly hurt; he could be seen limping at some points, an obviously bad sign considering that Buckner has been known to be able to muscle through a lot of pain in his time with the Colts. Ultimately, he had to leave the game.

Joel Erickson at the Indy Star reported that Buckner has a back injury, but more details were not available. Colts fans will undoubtedly be praying that the injury is a minor one; the team already lost Samson Ebukam in the offseason, and can't afford to lose another one of their most valuable defenders. Buckner is also one of the team captains, meaning they'll also be losing one of their leaders on the field, too.

Despite the loss, and his apparent injury, Buckner sounded optimistic after the game. He noted that while there are things the defense needs to work on, it's nothing they can't handle before taking on the Packers.

"Missed tackles, guys not being in the right gap, whatever it is. Little things that we can fix," Buckner said in postgame interviews. "It's not alarming to me at all right now. It'll be a problem if we're midseason and it's still happening. Alarms aren't going off. We're going to watch the tape, see what we can clean up and I'm confident we'll get it fixed."

For now, Buckner's status is listed as questionable for Sunday. If he is not able to play, the Colts will have to rely on others, like Grover Stewart, Adetomiwa Adebawore, and Tyquan Lewis to try and make up for Buckner's absence.

The Colts will be facing off against the Packers in Green Bay on September 15th at 1:00pm.