“It's definitely a blow for us.” It hurts him.

HOUSTON – Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs suffered a season-ending ACL tear in his right knee that will end his season as he will have to undergo surgery and be placed on injured reserve, according to coach DeMeco Ryans.

This represents a major blow to the Texans' offense.

Diggs was injured during a non-contact play while route running during a 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium on Sunday.

“Unfortunately he tore his ACL,” Ryans said Wednesday. “He will be out this year. It really hurts our team to hear this news.”

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Diggs underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan, which determined the severity and nature of the injury.

“It's definitely a blow for us,” Ryans said of Diggs' season-ending ACL tear. “He hurts, of course, and we hurt him too.”

Diggs was voted team captain by his teammates and established himself as a leader in the locker room. The players are taking the injury seriously.

“We don’t like it at all when our players go down,” said Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, whose locker is just a few points away from Diggs. “Hopefully he’s okay. We hate to see our brothers fall. We put so much into this game that it's hard to see. It’s happening.”

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Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowl player acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Bills this offseason, walked straight to the locker room under his own power.

“Our prayers go out to Stef,” Texas Pro Bowl quarterback CJ Stroud said before the injury was diagnosed.

Diggs caught five passes for 81 yards, including a 49-yard reception, on nine scores, in one of his bigger games since joining the defending AFC South champions.

“I didn’t really see what happened,” running back Joe Mixon said. “I just saw my brother get knocked down.”

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With Nico Collins out for one more game against the New York Jets on Thursday and sources expecting him to return from a hamstring injury after a quick recovery against the Detroit Lions on November 10, Diggs' injury represents a major setback for the Texans. You'll be relying heavily on the Dell wide receiver tank.

Diggs leads the Texans with 47 catches and is second to Collins with 496 yards and is tied with him with three touchdown catches. Before this injury, he was on pace for 100 catches and 1,000 yards.

Without Diggs and Collins, Dell, Xavier Hutchinson, Robert Woods and John Metchie III are the Texans' best wide receivers.

Dell caught four passes for 35 yards on four targets, including a touchdown while recovering from a no-catch game against the Green Bay Packers. Tight end Dalton Schultz caught four passes for 52 yards on six scores. Running back Joe Mixon had four catches for 32 yards. Metchie had three catches for 29 yards, Woods had two catches for 18 yards and Hutchinson had a 19-yard reception.

“I've been praying for him to get better,” Dell said of Diggs' injury. “I texted him and called him. Man, that's the name of the game. This is my brother. I just pray that whatever happened is a small thing and nothing crazy and he gets out.”

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The Texans are 6-2 and rightfully haven't played their best football yet.

“We’re fine,” Dell said. “We all know that things can be much better. We know what we are capable of. I know we harp on this every week in these interviews, but the sky is the limit for this team. We have to continue to put all the pieces together.”

Dell caught seven touchdowns as a rookie before breaking his fibula. After recovering from that injury, the former third-round draft pick from the University of Houston suffered a gunshot wound as an innocent bystander in a mass shooting at a party in his home state of Florida. He has once again made a full recovery, but he has gotten off to a slow start in his second NFL season.

Dell has 24 catches for 229 yards and two touchdowns in eight games, averaging 9.5 yards per catch and a long reception of 23 yards.

Dell hasn't performed as well as he did in his rookie year, when he was on pace for 1,205 yards before breaking his leg in December. Last year he averaged 70 yards per game through Week 13, but this season he's only averaging 32 yards. He scored his second touchdown and rushed for 35 yards in the Texans' win on Sunday against the Colts.

“Yeah, I think he had a great attitude at the start of the week, he was getting better and better, he was taking his chances and I thought he did great,” Stroud said. “He ran a lot of good routes today. Me and him are really close. We just want to feed each other. It was just good to get our mojo going again. I’m just super proud of him, of what he’s accomplished, and he’s going to have to make really big strides for us.”

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Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com