Matt Schaub Injury: Ear Lobe Ripped Off From Illegal Hit During Texans Game (VIDEO)
The Houston Texans Matt Schaub was on fire Sunday afternoon, aging Peyton Manning play by play, when an illegal hit notched away his ear lobe.
The Texans lead the Broncos 31-25, although Manning put up a good fight after recovering from last Monday's game. Schaub managed four touch down passes, leading to the final victory.
Andre Johnson, Arian Foster and Kevin Walter received the passes for a leading scored in the first half of the game, and Owen Daniels nearly sealed the deal in the second half with a final pass from Schaub, but the Broncos made a quick recovery.
In the final break down, the Texans were forced to run the clock down to 30 some seconds before having to punt the ball back to Denver, while maintaining the lead.
But Schaub's game was nearly thrown when Bronco defender Joe Mays tore a piece of the quarterbacks earlobe in an illegal hit. Just after Schaub released the ball, Mays tore in knocking Schaub to the floor. Schaub quickly responded to the hit by rolling over to his side and covering his ears.
"We've seen it a couple of times today, where Matt Schaub has hung in there," the announcer during the game stated.
And he did hang in even after discovering that a chunk of his earlobe had been taken off. But the hit did appear to affect Schaub, who didn't complete a pass in the next two offensive series.
Following pictures of a bloodied Schaub, Mays will likely receive backlash for the hit from the league's office. Schaub received heavy support from fans, who applauded his return to the game.
"Love him or hate him he still took two very aggressive hits back to back and only missed one snap, then won the game," SpoonMan opined on the Yahoo sports blog. "Give the man credit."
