LANDOVER, Md. – Alex Smith seemed to know immediately this was bad. Really, really bad. He covered his face with both hands, then a white towel, before his fractured right leg was placed in an air cast and he was carted off the field.
One of his predecessors as Washington Redskins quarterback, Joe Theismann, was at Sunday's game and sensed the same — and he's all too familiar with what a season-ending broken leg looks and feels like.
Exactly 33 years to the day after Theismann's gruesome injury during a nationally televised game, Smith went down with breaks to his right fibula and tibia midway through the third quarter of NFC East-leading Washington's 23-21 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday. Coach Jay Gruden said Smith would have surgery "right away."
"I saw a pile of people go down, and then I saw Alex's leg in the position it was in. And I turned away after that. It brought back vivid memories," said Theismann, hurt when hit by the Giants' Lawrence Taylor.
Smith was in his first season with Washington after getting traded from Kansas City. He had thrown two first-half interceptions Sunday, one returned 101 yards for a TD by Texans safety Justin Reid, as the Redskins fell behind 17-7.
The injury came in the third quarter when Smith was first hit by cornerback Kareem Jackson, then by defensive end J.J. Watt.
"We're all gutted for Alex," Watt said. "I feel absolutely terrible for him."
Backup Colt McCoy helped Washington score a pair of TDs in his first regular-season game since 2015, but the Texans (7-3) prevailed to become the first NFL team since the 1925 Giants to win seven in a row after starting 0-3.
